Stalker Zero
by TheannaTheWhite
Summary: Failing the Springtime Summoning Ritual was fate for Louise de la Valliere. Unfortunately, fate had decided that something worse than summoning a commoner shall befall her, and she finds herself in a world where nearly everything is out to kill her and the very fabric of reality has been twisted beyond recognition. Welcome to the Zone, Louise.
1. Humble Beginnings I

_Humble Beginnings I_

_Zaton_

_13:42_

The marshlands of Zaton had never been the easiest region in the Zone to traverse. In the winter it was merely covered in snow. In the spring, however, the muck began to thaw, resulting in a consistently muddy terrain where deep bodies of water had once stood.

Therefore, it wasn't unusual to see a stalker enter the Skadovsk with their legs brown up to their knees, grumbling about the 'stupid mud' outside. The Skadovsk had been a cargo ship in her prime, before the waters in Zaton had simply vanished, leaving her to rust in the mud among the other ships in the area. Even if the water decided to return in full force one day, the Skadovsk would remain where she now stood. There was barely anything left to the hull, only the stern section remained intact.

Considered the only relatively safe place in Zaton, the Skadovsk was usually a hive of activity. Stalkers came and went at all times of the day, dropping in to trade off scavenged equipment, artifacts, or to simply have a drink and relax.

Today, however, the Skadovsk was unusually vacant, the burly bartender being the sole occupant. A heavy-set man, who went by the name of Beard, sat back on a stool with a swiveling seat. Bored by the lack of activity, he simply used a foot to swivel himself back and forth slowly. He had no doubts the upper levels of the ship were occupied. The rat-faced trader Owl almost never left the ship, and the perpetually intoxicated Cardan could usually be found in the same spot upstairs, offering to repair anybody's equipment for a bottle of vodka.

Beard had no interests in talking to either of the men, so he sat idle. That is, until the groaning of aged metal signaled that the door was being opened.

Leaning forward slightly, Beard watched as a lone stalker entered the bowels of the ship and made straight for him, a canvas bag swinging at their side. He smiled, seeing familiar company approaching, and money to be made.

The stalker stopped in front of the bar, gently setting the bag down on the wooden surface. Peeling back their hood and pulling down the cloth covering the lower portion of their face revealed bright blue eyes and jet black hair, greasy and matted from days without a wash. The stalker before him was new around Zaton and the only female he had seen in the area, which was made evident by the bulge in the chest of her sunrise suit. Beard knew better than to assume she was a novice. If she had made it all the way into Zaton, she had to have some amount of competency.

She set an older bolt-action rifle to lean against the bar, an M91/30 if Beard guessed correctly. She placed her elbows on the bar, rested her chin in her hands and smiled brightly.

Beard decided to speak first, a touch of laughter in his voice. "So, you have something interesting I guess?" He motioned towards the bag on the bar as he slowly stood up.

The girl nodded, removing whatever she had been carrying from the bag. The object looked to have been a steering wheel of sorts at some point. It sat, glowing a bright blue on the bar top, with a portion of the wheel seeming to have developed a growth that twitched and swayed about occasionally.

"I…" Beard began, eyeing the object with a raised eyebrow. "What on Earth is this?"

"Don't know," the girl in front of him responded simply, shrugging. Beard knew he wouldn't get much of an explanation out of her. As nice as she seemed, she barely spoke any Ukrainian, or any of the other common languages in the Zone such as Russian or Belarusian. What she managed to speak was with a heavy French accent, if Beard wasn't mistaken. Beard couldn't speak French to save his life, so there was a definite communication barrier.

"Right," Beard replied, sighing through his nose. This 'altered wheel' would definitely fetch a good price with his clients outside of the Zone, even if it was merely a curiosity. "For this semi-artifact, I'll give you… twenty-five hundred?"

The girl shook her head, holding up three fingers in response. Beard laughed at the girl's simple response. "Three thousand it is then! Only because you've been a great artifact hunter so far."

Smiling, the girl accepted her payment. She may not have understood Beard completely, but she knew a compliment when she heard one. She hefted her rifle up into her arms, nodding slightly.

Beard nodded in return, giving the girl a wave as she pulled her hood over her head and made for the exit.

* * *

Louise de la Valliére awoke feeling like she had been hit by a ton of bricks. Her eyes shot open, quickly slamming shut again when the sunlight proved too much for her retinas to handle all at once. She placed a hand on her forehead and groaned, feeling like her head was about to split open.

From what she could gather with her eyes closed, she was laying on her back somewhere outside. The sun was bright, shining through her eyelids with a red hue, and there was a breeze blowing over her that carried a slight chill with it.

The only thing troubling her other than her pounding head was that she had no recollection of what had happened to her. She didn't even remember waking up that morning and getting out of bed, but she must have, she was fully dressed. At least, she felt like she was.

Cracking her eyes open, she saw a mostly clear sky above her with reeds and cattails swinging lazily in the breeze at the edges of her vision. Deciding that she best stand up instead of laying in the dirt, Louise rose to a sitting position, causing her stomach to suddenly start doing flips. Placing an arm across her stomach and a hand over her mouth, Louise silently prayed that she wouldn't vomit.

Taking a moment to look herself over as her stomach began to calm down, she thankfully discovered that she was indeed fully dressed in her school uniform, a simple black skirt and a white blouse, with a long black cloak that was keeping most of her body from actually touching the ground. Satisfied that she hadn't woken up outdoors wearing only her nightclothes, Louise began to take stock of her surroundings.

She was in a marsh, or a swamp. Not being the outdoors type, she wasn't completely sure of the difference. All she knew was that both were wet, both had plants, and both were surely unpleasant places to be. In whatever way she was brought here, she was happy she hadn't woken up in the small body of water only a few feet away.

Deciding to stand up to try and get a better view over the tall plants, Louise slowly rose to her feet and was careful to move slowly as to not excite her headache, or upset her stomach once more.

She sighed, seeing that the area was indeed rather wet, full of plants, and looked very unpleasant. Surely the place was full of dreadful insects that would assault her in force at any moment. As if on cue, she heard a distinct buzzing near her right ear. She swatted.

Out of everything that existed in the physical world, Louise hated insects the most.

Remembering Kirche von Zerbst, she then took the thought back and decided that insects were probably fifth on the list of things she hated most. Kirche was definitely at the top, and she wasn't really sure on the other three yet, but they were there.

The thought of her classmate caused a few memories to come rushing back. She _had_ gotten up that morning. Today was the day she was supposed to take part in the familiar summoning ceremony. Her mouth fell open, realizing that she wasn't going to make it to the ceremony, if it hadn't already happened. Maybe she had performed the ritual, and it caused her to end up here. If that was the case, the ritual certainly hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped.

All around her the land sloped upward. Some areas gradually rose, while others were steep embankments. The area she was standing in must have been the bottom of a lake at some point before the water level had drastically been reduced.

In the distance, she noticed, there was a hulking structure. It had the vague shape of something that would float on water, but it wasn't like any ship she had ever seen before. It was massive, and seemed to be permanently immobile from the lack of a large enough body of water. If the place hadn't been completely abandoned simply because of how dreadful it looked, maybe there were people there. Or at least, she may be able to see more from on the deck of the ship if it were abandoned.

About to take a step, Louise froze, hearing the reeds rustle to her side. Slowly turning her head, her eyes went wide.

Whatever was standing only a dozen meters away was shaped like a human, except for its face. Large, black eyes with an elongated face greeted her vision. The long face, or perhaps it was some horrendous mask, protruded out from underneath a hood. She slowly scanned over the strangest assortment of clothing she had ever seen, before her eyes settled on something even more disturbing than the face.

A gun. A big and ugly gun.

The combination of wood and steel was unmistakable, although it didn't look like any musket she had seen before. Louise's hand went to her side, searching desperately for her wand.

Louise paled, realizing she no longer had possession of said wand.

The masked individual had seen Louise's motion and had quickly brought their weapon up to bear, leveling it straight at the frightened girl. Louise raised her hands to show she meant no harm, and began slowly backing away while glancing about for a way to escape the situation.

While moving backwards, her heel caught on an inconveniently placed rock, bringing her back down onto her bottom and into a murky puddle of water.

"N-no, please!" Louise sputtered, throwing her hands out in front of herself as if they could stop bullets. The person advanced on her, lowering their weapon as they came within a few feet. "I-I-I'm just lost! D-don't hurt me please! I…"

Louise trailed off, hearing the muffled sound of what was unmistakably laughter coming from behind the mask. The person suddenly crouched down in front of the distraught girl, resting the butt of the weapon on the ground. The laughter sounded light, feminine. Taking note of the bulge in the chest area, Louise quickly determined that there must have been a woman behind the mask.

Her thoughts were proven to be true, when the mask came off to reveal a rather pretty face, with shining blue eyes and black hair. The smile playing at the woman's lips indicated that she had indeed been laughing.

The woman spoke, laughter still in her voice. "You're sitting in a puddle."

"I…" Louise looked down, at a loss for words. "…What?"

"I said, you're sitting in a puddle," the woman repeated.

"You're…" Louise began, her mouth hanging slightly agape. "Laughing at me?"

The woman smiled a cat-like grin, biting at her lip before ignoring Louise's question. "I honestly didn't think I'd ever see one of you people again. It feels good to finally be able to speak Tristainian to somebody."

"Who… are you?" Louise asked slowly, studying the face of the woman before her with narrowed eyes. The woman's smiled widened.

"You can call me Siesta."

* * *

_Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed. I've been lurking around the Familiar of Zero archives for some time now, and I decided to finally publish something. I always thought that the STALKER universe would be an interesting one to combine with Familiar of Zero, but if it were a Louise summons X story, it wouldn't be much different than any other Louise summons X story in which X happens to have a gun and a troubling past. _

_Besides, I wanted to write a story which centered on Louise and the complete loss of her innocence. STALKER definitely seems like a perfect medium to me. If any of you have played the games then you know how dangerous and unforgiving the Zone can be. _

_Anyways, updates will be random because of work and other things, so drop a review and I'll get back to you with chapter two as soon as I can._


	2. Humble Beginnings II

_Humble Beginnings II_

_Zaton_

_14:12_

"Honestly, where _are_ we going?"

Siesta rolled her eyes. "I told you I'd explain everything at the Skadovsk didn't I? So we're obviously going to the Skadovsk."

"Yes but where is the Ska… Sk- where is it!?" Louise growled, sending a glare at the back of Siesta's head as she brushed a few strands of her bright pink hair out of her eyes. She simply referred to Louise as 'Noble girl' instead of Milady, or Miss, or even by her actual name. The woman spoke Tristainian fluently, so Louise immediately assumed that her classmates must have cast a sleeping spell on her and simply placed her somewhere strange and forced a servant to dress up in some strange clothing to convince her she was somewhere very far away.

While this would have been greatly annoying, it would have been better than actually being stuck somewhere very far away. As the strange husk of the ship neared, Louise was slowly beginning to think her classmates had nothing to do with this.

"It's that ship," Siesta said, pointing in the direction of the aging metal structure.

"That thing?" Louise gawked, releasing a groan. "Are there people there? It looks absolutely disgusting." Louise looked to her side, catching something in the corner of her eye between the marsh plants and withering shrubs. "L-look! There's another one?"

Siesta glanced in the direction Louise had turned her head with an uninterested 'hmm?'. "Oh, yeah. That's the Shevchenko."

Louise let her eyes linger on the ship for only a few moments. The approaching Skadovsk and the Shevchenko were both strange looking ships with even stranger names. Wincing as the mud squelched beneath her shoes, Louise continued to follow Siesta.

Entering the ship through a gaping section of open hull, Louise found herself being led to a rusted metal door.

"So, are there actually people here?" Louise asked again. Her question was promptly ignored as Siesta worked the door's lever and pulled it outward. Louise frowned as the metal groaned in protest, and frowned even more so as the odor of cigarette smoke and the sounds of drunken laughter reached her. Siesta had brought her to a tavern in a rusty old ship.

Louise's eyebrow twitched in agitation. A tavern!

"Come on. We'll be safe in here," Siesta said, motioning for Louise to step through the doorway. "At least… well, mostly safe."

Louise narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean get inside so I can shut the damn door."

Giving Siesta a sharp glare, Louise huffed and stepped through the doorway, only to immediately come to a halt. The room was a fair size, full of old tables and chairs with a bar at the far end. People sat or stood about smoking and drinking, with most donning strange outfits similar to Siesta's, while others seemed to prefer well-worn clothes and long coats. Firearms lay scattered about the room, leaning against walls and tables and hanging from the sides and backs of nearly everybody. Louise had initially thought Siesta's gun had looked kind of strange, but the guns she saw in here were completely beyond her.

The most troubling thing of all was that everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare directly at her.

Behind her, Siesta grunted as she pulled the door shut, unaware of the stares they were receiving. Turning around, Siesta came to a halt next to Louise and raised an eyebrow at the room. To Louise's surprise, Siesta snorted and barked something in a foreign language. Most of the room returned to what they were doing with a grumble, although she still noticed a few curious stares directed her way.

"Come," Siesta began, walking into the bar. "Let's sit."

Choosing an empty table in a dark corner of the room Siesta plopped down with a happy sigh, her feet relieved to no longer have the weight of her body pressing down on them. Louise moved to sit across from her, giving the chair a look over and a quick brush before gently sitting down.

"What is everybody speaking here?" Louise asked immediately, glancing over her shoulder at the room. "I can't understand a thing."

"Ukrainian mostly," Siesta replied, leaning her rifle against the wall. "There are a few other languages that are common around this area."

Louise frowned. "No Tristainian?"

Shrugging, Siesta crossed her arms. "It's not very common. They call it something else too. I've had to try my best to learn the languages here. I've got a half decent hold on Ukrainian I suppose, I can understand it well enough but I'm not that great in conversation."

"I… see," Louise sighed, folding her hands together on the table.

"Enough of languages though," Siesta said, leaning her chair onto its back legs. "There are more important things to talk about."

Louise nodded in agreement. "Yes, there are. First of all, where exactly are we?"

"Well," Siesta began. "I thought I had been sent to hell at first. Eventually I found out this place is called the Zone, between the countries of Ukraine and Belarus."

Louise was silent for a few moments as she processed what she heard. "I-I've never heard of those places before. Are we… in the lands of the Far East? Beyond the lands of the Elves?"

Siesta shook her head. "No, actually, not even remotely close."

"Well where could we be then!?" Louise growled.

"Okay, you know the Halkeginian moons, blue and pink right?" Siesta asked, leaning forward.

Louise raised an eyebrow. "Well… yes? They're the _moons _after all."

"Yeah, well, not here."

"What?"

"They've only just got the one moon here."

Louise narrowed her eyes at Siesta in disbelief. "What on Halkeginia are you babbling about? That can't be possible! How can there be somewhere in the world where you can only see one of the moons?"

"No, no," Siesta quickly responded. "Not one of the moons, a completely different one, different color and everything. It's white."

"Its… white?"

"Yeah!" Siesta nodded. "It's small too, so it gets super dark here at night, but you can see so many stars! It's really pretty!"

Instead of sharing Siesta's sudden enthusiasm, Louise opted to cross her arms and glare. "Nope. Don't believe you at all."

Siesta shrugged with a scoff. "Don't then, but think about it. The moons are visible all times of the day, right? Did you see them when we were outside? They'd be pretty hard to miss considering how big they are don't you think?"

Slumping in her chair, Louise let out a defeated sigh. She hadn't noticed if the moons were present or not, but it wasn't like she went looking for them every time she stepped outside. They were always there anyway. "On the nearly impossible and very slim chance that you're telling the truth, what could that even mean?"

Siesta thought for a moment, having wondered the same thing for a long time. "Who knows? Maybe we're in a different world."

A different world? Louise was sure that couldn't be possible.

"So," Louise began, glancing up at the woman before her. "How did you end up here?"

"Well simply put, I saw a big green floating oval one night while working at the Academy and I was dumb enough to touch it. Next thing I knew I was waking up in a tree."

Louise broke out of her slump and perked up almost instantly. "T-the Academy? The Tristain Academy of Magic?"

"Yeah," Siesta nodded. She gestured towards Louise's school uniform. "I recognized those clothes. I was a maid there."

"You were?" Louise asked, trying to dig up a relevant memory. "I think I heard something about that, about a maid going missing a few months back."

"Few months?" Siesta scoffed. "I've been here for years."

Louise frowned. She was sure she had heard about somebody working at the Academy disappearing a few months ago. "Perhaps I was mistaken then."

"So did you find yourself a big oval too?"

"No, I didn't," Louise began, still finding herself unable to remember the events previous to waking up. "Actually maybe I did, I don't really know. I don't remember what happened to me before I woke up outside. I remember going to bed the night before, and I know I must have gotten out of bed since I'm dressed. I was supposed to take part in the springtime familiar summoning ritual today. I… dread to think that this is the result."

"Oh, so you were supposed to do one of those," Siesta said, leaning back as she remembered. "I miss seeing those, so many cute little animals that don't try to kill you."

"R-right," Louise responded. "So tell me about the Zone, it's a country between… You-crane and Bella-roose?

"Well actually the Zone is technically part of Ukraine. The military is supposed to not let anybody in, but," Siesta motioned to the room around them, "they haven't really been doing their job."

"If nobody is supposed to be here, doesn't that mean everybody here is a criminal?" Louise asked.

"Yup," Siesta nodded. "Congratulations, you're a criminal now too."

"W-what!? No!" Louise protested, sitting bolt upright. "My coming here was an accident! T-they can't arrest me for that!"

Siesta laughed and spoke dryly. "The military would be very understanding of your situation, I'm sure. They used to let people in and out if you bribed them enough, but after a few skirmishes with the stalkers, they started shooting on sight."

"Stalkers?"

"That's us," Siesta explained, motioning to the room. "That's what the government calls anybody residing illegally in the Zone."

"Oh," Louise replied, sniffing and crossing her arms. "You haven't explained why nobody is allowed here in the first place."

"I was getting to that," Siesta said, drumming her hands on the table lightly. "Initially I think it was because of a disaster that took place a long time ago, it made the land unsafe to live on. Now though, I think it's just because reality has been broken."

"How could such a thing be broken?"

"I have no idea," Siesta said, shrugging. "I've heard lots of people talk about the disaster, but not many people seem to know what exactly happened in the Zone that made it into what it is today. Or maybe they do, I've never really bothered to ask about it much. I've just accepted that things are how they are. This place isn't like Halkeginia at all, it's almost like somebody told reality that the rules no longer apply, and it's been left to run wild and do as it pleases."

After a few moments of silence Louise spoke up. "Well, go on."

Siesta grunted. "Go on? I've got nothing left to say about that, unless you want to hear some crazy stories."

Louise pursed her lips. "I don't suppose they'll cheer me up?"

"No," Siesta laughed. "Not at all. In fact, they'd probably make you never want to step outdoors."

"Lovely," Louise groaned.

"I haven't spoken that much in ages," Siesta sighed, standing up. "You want anything to drink?"

"Milk I suppose," Louise said, placing her elbow on the table and letting her head rest on her hand.

Siesta gave her a flat look. "Do you _honestly_ think that they have milk in a place like this?"

"O-oh, right. Water then. Do they have water?"

"You really are a little Noble girl, aren't you?" Siesta remarked, smirking. "So innocent and sheltered!"

Louise glared. Didn't this commoner care who she was speaking to? "Oh for the love of the Founder, just go."

Siesta laughed as she left the table and approached the bar, leaving Louise alone with her thoughts. If what Siesta has said about the moons was true, could it possibly mean that she was in a completely different world? Never in her life would she have thought that there could be another world. If she truly did summon herself into a different existence, then how would she ever get back to Halkeginia? Magic was out, she had no wand. Even if she did, she would be hesitant to perform the summoning ritual again. God forbid she end up sending herself to a place that was even worse.

In fact, she realized, without her wand she was defenceless. She sighed.

Siesta returned to the table, holding a bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. The maid turned stalker slid the bottle across the table to Louise, who immediately became perplexed by the thing.

"What is this bottle made of?" Louise asked, grasping it and finding it gave way quite easily in her hand. "It's… well its squishy, for lack of a better word."

"It's plastic," Siesta said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway it's got water in it, so drink."

Louise drank in silence, thinking about her situation over and over again. Siesta had said that in the Zone reality was broken. She couldn't help but wonder what exactly that meant. No doubt she would see for herself, most likely sooner rather than later.

What could a broken reality produce anyway?

"So what are you going to do now?" Siesta asked, placing her half empty glass down on the table. Louise noted that the liquid in Siesta's glass was clear as well, was it water too?

Louise sighed, downing the remainder of the water. "I have no idea, honestly."

Siesta nodded in what looked like understanding, giving her glass a swirl. "Well, you could come and work with me if you like." Siesta saw the skepticism cross Louise's face and smirked. "Or if you'd rather deal with being tossed into this horrible place by yourself that's fine too."

Louise huffed, glaring at the stalker. "And what is it that you do around here anyway?"

"Well to earn money I mostly hunt artifacts and trade in scavenged equipment. It can get pretty dangerous sometimes, but it pays really well," Siesta explained.

"Artifact hunting?" Louise asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Artifacts are…?"

Siesta waved a hand dismissively. "Hard to explain, I'll just show you. That is, if you want to come with me?"

Louise was silent for a moment. "I suppose I don't have much choice in the matter, do I?"

"Of course you do! You're free to do whatever you want obviously. If you want to live to see tomorrow though, staying with me is a good idea," Siesta remarked, giving Louise a wink. The pinkette failed to share the stalker's enthusiasm once again. "We can head out after I finish my drink, and you'll get to see how lovely the Zone is this time of year."

* * *

_Tristain Academy of Magic _

_20:38_

"Where could she have gone?"

Kirche von Zerbst paced back and forth, a hand playing at her chin. The student dorms in the Academy of Magic were fairly spacious, giving Kirche plenty of room to roam around and contemplate her thoughts. Her fiery red hair swung wide as she turned to pace briskly again.

"Stop doing that."

Kirche stopped to eye the owner of the room, Montmorency de Montmorency. She sat before her mirror, brushing the curls out of her lengthy blonde hair.

"Doing what?"

"Pacing," Montmorency groaned. "It's beginning to drive me insane."

"What happened to Valliére is driving me insane!" Kirche said, feeling as if pulling her hair out would remedy the situation. She turned to Montmorency's bed to eye the third person in the room. "What do you think, Tabitha?"

Tabitha peered at Kirche from behind a book, her only response being a light shrug. Kirche sighed, knowing that Tabitha wouldn't have much to say. The blue-haired girl had probably said her fill of words for the day.

"You know," Montmorency began, placing her brush down with her hair somewhere between curly and straight. She felt disgusted with herself. "I feel incredibly terrible. All… all those things we said to her."

She and Kirche had both been the bane of Louise da la Valliére's existence, constantly poking fun at her terrible performance in the magical arts and generally making her life at the Academy a living hell. Their days had never been complete without making Louise storm off with her face red and tears in her eyes.

Now she was gone.

Kirche sighed, choosing to plop down on Montmorency's bed with her arms crossed. "I know how you feel. The only thing Louise ever wanted was to be a normal mage, we all knew that. She must have tried harder than anybody in the Academy. All she's gotten in return is what might have been a swift death."

"K-Kirche!" Montmorency cried, her head snapping to glare at the redhead. "For the love of the Founder, don't say that! She might still be alive… somewhere."

Kirche's shoulders drooped. "Honestly, you saw what happened. There was nothing left, only her footprints."

Montmorency turned away and bit her lip, wishing she could forget what she had seen. The explosion that had resulted from Louise's attempt to summon a familiar had scorched the earth nearly half a dozen feet around. The only places left untouched were where her feet had been planted. Kirche was right when she said there had been nothing left, Louise had simply disappeared. It had only happened the day before, but rumors were already circulating saying that the force of the explosion had been enough to disintegrate Louise.

"I went there later that night," Kirche said suddenly, causing Montmorency and Tabitha to both eye here curiously.

"Went where? To the summoning circle?" Montmorency asked weakly. The summoning circle was located outside the walls of the Academy, a fair distance away.

Kirche nodded. "I wanted to see if she was just hiding out or something, you know how she is… was."

"Kirche…"

"Anyway," Kirche continued before Montmorency could say any more. "Her footprints were gone. There was something else there."

Montmorency narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What… do you mean, Kirche?"

"It was like some kind of crack, or fissure in the ground," Kirche explained, crossing her legs. "I could feel the heat coming from it from far away, and not just because my affinity is fire, it was ridiculously hot."

"Hot?" Tabitha asked, speaking up for the first time since being in the room.

Kirche nodded. "I could feel it from over a dozen feet away. It became almost unbearable when I got close. There was a haze coming out of it too, like you see on a hot summer's day sometimes, you know? I didn't want to wave my arm through it or anything, so I levitated a rock through it."

"Well? And?" Montmorency asked quickly, wanting to know more.

"It caught on fire."

"The _rock_ caught on fire?"

"Well," Kirche shrugged, unsure of her own explanation. "It was more like the air caught fire. A huge jet of flames shot straight up and burned for almost a minute before it died out. I did it again after and the same thing happened."

"That…" Montmorency trailed. "That doesn't make any sense, at all."

"None," Tabitha added, having put her book down.

"I know," Kirche agreed. "But it's still out there, and I'm positive it has something to do with what happened to Valliére. I'm sure the teachers will find it soon and have the whole area closed off."

Montmorency sighed, turning to stare at her reflection in the mirror as she posed a question to herself.

"What could that mean, I wonder?"

* * *

_Chapter two guys! Not much happening here, only more setting up for the story to kick into gear._

_Stay tuned for chapter 3! Where the stalkers get into some proper… stalking. _


	3. Humble Beginnings III

_Humble Beginnings III_

_Zaton_

_15:32_

Louise shivered. She hadn't noticed earlier, or maybe the temperature had just dropped, but the Zone definitely wasn't as warm as Tristain this time of year. That is, if it were even the same time of year, she realized. Drawing her cloak tighter around herself did little to keep any warmth close to her body, and her exposed legs were absolutely freezing.

They had left the marshy terrain that surrounded the Skadovsk, heading upward into the hills where Louise discovered that the ground was much more solid, a discovery that would have been quite pleasant if she wasn't so cold.

Louise had been about to voice an opinion, thinking that the Zone didn't look that bad so far. In fact, the multitude of evergreen trees had reminded her of Tristain, an illusion that was quickly broken with a quick glance at the sky. However, Louise's opinion went unvoiced when they came upon a small abandoned village not too far from the Skadovsk.

Siesta seemed adamant on avoiding the interior of the village, skirting along the outside instead of going straight through, which was fine with Louise since the place looked rather run down. She still felt the need to ask the stalker why, who had told her that fleshes usually roamed the area. When queried about fleshes, Siesta simply responded with "ugly".

The rest of the walk was uneventful. They crossed a small stone bridge and followed the road a short ways before leaving the hardened surface to enter a lightly wooded area, heading uphill again towards what Louise could only describe as a bunch of trees tied in a knot.

Now, standing before the strange formation of trees, Louise saw what was really going on. A gully, which had probably been a river at some point, ran through the area with trees growing out of either side. The trees seemed to be tangled in each other over the gully, but upon closer inspection Louise found that they were all connected. The entire thing was likely just one tree, with a measly amount of leaves on top creating a canopy over the dry gully.

It was certainly the strangest formation of trees Louise had ever seen.

"The other stalkers have been calling this one the Oakpine anomaly," Siesta said, gesturing towards the trees. "Uh… pretty self-explanatory I guess."

Louise eyed the anomaly. "So why is it… um… like that?"

Siesta laughed. "Who knows? Most things in the Zone just are."

The ex-maid slung her Mosin-Nagant rifle around onto her back and removed her mask from her belt to situate it on her head. Louise had taken notice of something in the distance, a flat building surrounded by tall strange looking metal structures. She wondered what the place could have possibly been for.

"Alright, so just wait here," Siesta began, her mask pointing straight up as it sat awkwardly on top of her head. She seemed to be waiting to finish speaking before sliding it down over her face and muffling her voice. Siesta pointed down into the gully, "and whatever you do, don't go down there."

Louise quirked an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Well, there's a possibility of the air being acidic down there," Siesta explained, as if it were normal. "You could probably run through it and it would only irritate your skin, but if you inhaled it, your day would be pretty much ruined."

"W-what!?" Louise gawked, looking down into the gully and noticing the area had a sort of green haze about it. "Acidic air? T-that's ridiculous!"

"Isn't it?" Siesta replied with fake surprise evident in her voice, earning her a glare from the pinkette. She tapped at her gas mask. "That's why I have this. If I fall at least I have a chance to run and get out of the anomaly. At least, if I haven't broken my legs."

Siesta moved to slide her mask down over her face before realization suddenly crossed her face. "Oh right! Didn't you say you lost your wand, Noble girl?"

Louise huffed and crossed her arms. "Unfortunately it was not with me when I woke up, and honestly, call me something other than 'Noble girl'!"

"As you wish, Lady Valliére," Siesta replied, smiling politely while imitating a curtsey.

Louise's face went flat, knowing Siesta wasn't being the least bit serious. "That's just wonderful. Thank you."

"Well I hope you enjoyed it, because I'm never doing it again," Siesta grunted, consequently receiving another glare from Louise. "We can talk about this Noble-commoner stuff later. There are more important things to do right now. You're defenceless, right?"

Reluctantly agreeing with Siesta, Louise nodded with a sigh.

"Right, so here," Siesta continued, reaching around behind her back and bringing out a small pistol, a Makarov PM. Louise gawked, having not noticed it before. She knew Siesta had what she was sure was some kind of musket, and a weird-looking pistol on her thigh, but she hadn't seen the one on her back. Was it concealed? "You've got eight shots before its empty."

"W-what!?" Louise cried, eyeing the deadly object. "No! I-I-I don't know how to use a gun!"

Sighing, Siesta held the pistol up for Louise to see, pointing at the barrel. "This is the bad end. Don't point it at anything you don't want to kill." She then pointed at the trigger. "And this makes it go 'bang'. Like I said, eight shots. Don't waste them."

Siesta forced the Makarov into Louise's hands before tightening her gas mask over her face. Louise eyed the gun, holding it loosely with her fingers kept away from the trigger, as if the slightest movement could cause the whole thing to explode in her hand. She looked to the gun, to Siesta, back to the gun, and to Siesta again, who had now begun climbing onto the Oakpine.

"H-hey!" Louise called out after the stalker. "I don't want to kill anything! What could I possibly need a gun for? Such a dirty weapon is unfit for a Noble anyway!"

Siesta turned to look at Louise through her mask as she stopped to stand on a bent section of the trunk. "Soon enough, a gun just might be your best friend!" Siesta called back, her voice muffled but understandable. "Just keep a lookout for anything unusual, okay?"

Louise motioned towards the Oakpine. "And what exactly would be considered 'unusual' around here?"

"Look, you'll know it when you see it!" Siesta called out, sighing. "Maybe I should have taught you how to handle a gun beforehand, but it'll just have to wait now. I wasn't really expecting to get my own little stalker apprentice when I got up this morning!"

Louise begrudgingly turned away from the tree and began eyeing over her surroundings. Eventually her eyes landed on the Makarov once again. She didn't really want to hold the thing, in fact, she'd much rather just place it on the ground and walk away from it. Guns were dirty and nasty things, she hated them. Flintlock pistols were plentiful in Halkeginia, even her father had a few that he used occasionally for recreation, but this little gun was nothing like them.

She found herself wondering how the gun worked, and why could it shoot eight times. Didn't guns normally only have one shot before they had to be reloaded? Well, unless they had more than one barrel, but this gun only had one, a small one at that.

On top of the Oakpine, Siesta inched carefully along the thick branches with her detector held out in front of her. It was a Bear model, and it had served her well during her journeys throughout the Zone. The detector beeped and the colored display indicated that there was an artifact close to her position at about one o'clock. She smiled behind her mask, seeing the air beginning to shimmer before her.

On the ground, Louise waited impatiently with her cloak drawn around herself in another futile attempt to keep the cold out. Being small for her age, she had always found herself a little more sensitive to lower temperatures. She silently cursed her small frame.

Before she could continue her train of thought, a rustling in the bushes to her right caught her attention. She let out a tiny squeak of surprise, her head snapping to the direction she was sure the sound had come from. Did this count as unusual? She brought her cloak tighter around her body, taking a step backward.

"S-Siesta!" Louise called out, bringing her eyes away from the bushes and up to the tree. She couldn't see Siesta anymore through the leafy canopy on top of the twisted mass of wood and bark. "I think there's something here!"

Barely audible, she heard Siesta's muffled voice call back. "If it's ugly, kill it!"

Louise bit her lip, feeling that voicing her opinion on killing was now pointless. More rustling, this time the movement was caught in the corner of her eye. She yelped and took another step back, her bottom coming to rest against the same tree Siesta had climbed. She glanced back out of reflex, her eyes catching the green haze swirling in the gully below, as well as something she hadn't noticed earlier.

A skeleton, its bones and clothing picked clean by the corrosive atmosphere. Only the unfortunate stalker's gas mask remained sitting loosely on the skull.

Swallowing, Louise came to the conclusion that falling into the gully was something she didn't want to happen. She tried to steel herself the best she could, believing her Mother would have expected at least that of her.

On top of the tree, Siesta had just finished bagging her recently acquired artifact when a piercing scream caused her to nearly lose her balance. She quickly readied her rifle and moved to get a view of what was happening down below. She swore under her breath at what she saw.

Louise stared horrified at the creature before her, any semblance of steel within her gone. A nearly hairless and absolutely rabid looking dog stood before her with teeth bared and its eyes white and glossed over. It was, without a doubt, the single ugliest dog Louise had ever laid eyes on.

Slowly bringing her cloak open, Louise shakily pointed the Makarov in the general direction of the dog and waved it to the side. "Sh-shoo! Go away!" The futile attempt at shooing the dog seemed to have no effect. It didn't even track the movements of the gun through the air, giving Louise the impression that the dog might have been blind.

Releasing a single bark, the dog bounded forward with killing intent. Mostly out of fear, Louise squeezed the Makarov's trigger through its long double-action pull as hard as she could, filling the air with a satisfying 'pop'. Her poorly prepared shot went terribly wide, missing the dog completely. Fortunately, the noise alone was enough to deter the rabid beast, causing it to quickly change course and head for the bushes once again.

It didn't make it. A second and much louder shot split the air, sending the dog tumbling to the ground in a fit of twitching and gurgle filled yelping. It writhed on the ground for a few short moments before succumbing to the hole in its neck.

Louise looked up just in time to see Siesta working the action on her rifle. She gawked, knowing that if Siesta hadn't been so quick with her rifle the dog would have definitely come back for a second attempt. Louise looked to the dog and wondered if this woman had really been a maid. To her, the dog seemed like it was moving at the speed of light. Surely that would have been a hard shot to pull off.

Starting slightly, Louise whirled around and realized she hadn't noticed Siesta climbing down the tree and jumping the last few feet. She removed her gas mask and eyed Louise with a raised eyebrow.

"You okay?" Siesta asked, sighing when Louise merely stared back at her dumbly. "I've definitely got to teach you how to handle a gun."

In an instant Louise was back, jolting slightly as Siesta laid a hand on her shoulder. "I… yes I am fine!"

Siesta frowned. "Maybe I shouldn't have just dragged you out into the Zone."

"Maybe," Louise scoffed, her expression softening quickly. "Nevertheless, thank you. I believe you may have saved my life."

"The dog would have just run away," Siesta said, shrugging. "Probably would have brought back the rest of the pack though. Damn blind dogs."

Louise eyed the deceased dog. So it actually was blind, but why? The pinkette remembered something the ex-maid had said to her earlier. "Siesta, you said we had to talk about the Nobility and commoners, correct?"

"Oh, yeah."

Louise held the gun out for Siesta to take. "We should do that then."

Eyeing the gun, Siesta shook her head. "Not here. We'll talk back at the Skadovsk after we talk to Beard. You should keep that gun as well."

"I…" Louise trailed, eyeing the Makarov. "I don't really want it, if I'm honest."

"Keep it, seriously," Siesta pressed, pushing the gun back towards Louise. "Those old Makarov's are everywhere, I won't miss it. You'll need it anyway if you haven't got your magic to rely on."

Louise sighed. Right, her _magic_. "R-right, I suppose." She drew her cloak tight around herself once more. If Siesta had brought her out here just to throw her in an uncomfortable situation, she had done a brilliant job.

"Anyway," Siesta began, walking away from the Oakpine. "Let's get back to the boat before the rest of those dogs come looking for their friend, there was a Kolobok up on the trees," Siesta motioned to her backpack with a flick of her head. "They're rare, so Beard will pay nicely for one. You can keep the money we make from this one."

"A-are you sure?" Louise asked, following behind Siesta. "You were the one who got it, right? I couldn't just…"

"Oh come on, even I can see that you're freezing your ass off," Siesta said, rolling her eyes. "When we get back to the Skadovsk we can go to Owl and get you some stuff to go with that gun, and pants. You're definitely going to want pants and a big coat."

Louise frowned. Pants? Far too unladylike for her tastes, but the thought of her legs being warm seemed like a much more attractive option. The Noble girl then realized something.

"What… exactly is a Ko-lo-bok anyway?"

"Oh! Here, check it out."

* * *

In the depths of the Skadovsk, the day had been progressing normally. Stalkers came and went, trading artifacts, buying cans of food, or loitering about the area having something to drink. Few noticed the stalker sitting on a wooden crate, leaning against the ship's cold hull.

Although nearly every stalker carried a stressed out edge with them, Grouse had much more weighing on his mind than anybody in the room. A police detective in a previous life, Grouse hadn't put his skills to use in the Zone in a long time, until recently.

Stalkers had been disappearing left and right, with the recovered bodies few and far between. With the help of Tremor, the Skadovsk's only medical professional, and Gonta and his hunters, they had reached the conclusion that one of the Zone's foulest and most fearsome creatures was responsible.

Bloodsuckers. A lair of deadly Bloodsuckers was somewhere in Zaton.

Grouse sighed, forcing the dreadful issue out of his mind for the time being. He had found a new curiosity that demanded swift answers.

Who the hell was the pink-haired girl that Siesta had dragged in?

Deciding that Siesta herself was taking far too long to reappear in the Skadovsk, Grouse chose the second-best option. He would ask Beard.

He stood, his legs protesting the movement as they had become stiff from sitting for so long, and made his way across the room and through the small crowd of stalkers. He found the bearded man standing behind the bar as he did on most days, this time absentmindedly wiping a glass as he stared at an old television. It was wired to display the same images as the one that hung above the bar, and usually played the same old movies over and over.

Over time, Grouse had seen every one of them, most of which were old American bootleg movies with horribly translated subtitles.

His interest in the current movie nonexistent, Grouse leaned onto the bar and addressed the man behind it. "Hey, Beard."

The heavy set stalker grunted in response, turning to address Grouse as he placed the glass he had been wiping down with the others. "Grouse. How goes the Bloodsucker situation?"

The ex-detective sighed, having not expected the conversation to take this turn so quickly. "Gonta has Danila and Garmata out trying to track down some more stalkers that have disappeared."

"I see."

"Listen," Grouse began, eager to change the subject. "I've got something else I want to speak to you about."

Beard raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Grouse wants to talk about something _other_ than Bloodsuckers? With you it's always Bloodsuckers this, Bloodsuckers that. I was beginning to think the Zone had turned you into a broken record."

"It's a big issue, but lately…" Grouse groaned, wiping at his brow. "If I have to talk about bloodsuckers anymore today I'm going to throw up."

Beard let out a single, very loud, laugh. Although in the atmosphere of the Skadovsk it went largely unnoticed. "Right, right. What is it you want to talk about?"

"Did you see that little girl Siesta dragged in here today?"

Beard frowned. "You mean the one with the _pink_ hair? How could I miss something like that? Who even has time to dye their hair in the Zone?"

"It wasn't just her hair," Grouse stated, shifting his weight onto his other leg. "Her clothes, her mannerisms… her _cleanliness_."

"I noticed," Beard nodded, playing at his lengthy facial hair. "There's no way she's been in the Zone for long, no more than a couple of days, but…"

"But? Nobody could make it all the way into Zaton like that. The bandits would have picked her off before she even got halfway through the Garbage, if the damn dogs didn't swarm her first."

"I know," Beard grunted, crossing his arms. "It's had me thinking. She spoke French too, like Siesta. Not sure if you noticed or not."

Grouse's eyebrows traveled upward in slight surprise. "No, I hadn't noticed. That's certainly interesting."

"Anyway, if she's with Siesta then she's in good hands," Beard said confidently. "Hopefully Sultan and his merry band of assholes don't give them too much trouble."

Grouse nodded in agreement, his distaste for the local gang of bandits similar to Beard's. He hadn't really gotten as much as he'd hoped out of his conversation with Beard, other than the fact that this pink-haired girl spoke French like Siesta.

"If you want to ask Siesta about it yourself, she's just walked in," Beard suddenly piped up. Grouse quickly turned around, seeing the stalker in question pulling the door shut with the pink-haired girl standing close by. Grouse squinted, seeing that the smaller girl had her cloak wrapped tightly around herself, giving off the impression that she was quite cold.

After she secured the door, Grouse realized that Siesta and her companion were heading straight towards him, or more accurately, heading straight for Beard. Stepping to the side to make room for the two of them, Grouse greeted Siesta with a slight nod, which she returned.

Straight to the point as always, Siesta immediately produced what appeared to be a small ball covered in hundreds of lengthy spikes from her pack and began haggling with Beard over prices. Grouse recognized the Kolobok artifact immediately and raised an eyebrow. He had only seen a few before, as they were quite rare, and had heard that they possessed healing properties. Many stalkers would opt to keep the artifact instead of selling it, using it to heal wounds gathered in the Zone, although the danger of waking up one morning with radiation sickness usually deterred people from doing so.

Not really paying attention to the dialogue, Grouse leaned back to peer around Siesta and get a better look at the pink-haired girl. To his surprise, she was doing a similar action to get a better view of him. Upon registering his gaze on her, she quickly turned away, her cloak still drawn tight around herself. But Grouse had noticed something interesting during their short period of eye contact.

Her _eyes_ were pink.

Grouse sighed as the two girls left just as quickly as they came, heading towards the upper levels of the ship. He hadn't gotten the chance to speak to Siesta, and felt that chasing her down was a little unnecessary, if not rude. Deciding against asking Siesta about it directly, he simply hoped he could casually bring it up in conversation with her some time, even though she didn't seem to be much of a conversationalist. In fact, he'd never heard her speak more than two words at a time in Ukrainian. Language barriers could be a frustrating thing. Everybody had their reasons for coming to the Zone, so he was sure the little pink-haired girl had her own reasons as well.

Shrugging to himself, Grouse decided that he needed another drink before Danila or Garmata returned.

* * *

_The Cordon_

_23:17_

Far away from Zaton and the grounded Skadovsk lies a small rural village in the Cordon. Evacuated after the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant's reactor 4, it had long stood abandoned, slowly being reclaimed by nature.

However, sometime after the second disaster in 2006, it had become a village once again, sparsely populated by unknown and armed individuals. Stalkers commonly referred to this village as the 'Rookie Village', located in the southern Cordon, it was closest to the military perimeter, and where many stalkers had taken their first steps.

It was not uncommon to see a few weary souls stumble into the village in the early morning or late at night, dirty and tired from crawling through minefields and under fences all while dodging military patrols. Suffice to say, many never made it into the Zone.

After sunset, many stalkers had taken to finding a house with enough vacant space to lay their head, or siting around a sizeable fire in the middle of the village. Stalkers sat, drank, and shared stories of their exploits in the Zone, or of the lives they left behind on the outside.

Standing up from the fire and arching his back, Drifter had decided that his bladder had become far too full. He excused himself, sauntering around the back of a nearby dilapidated house to break line of sight with the other stalkers. Quickly choosing a corner in the far side of the house's fenced in backyard, Drifter sighed happily as he began relieving himself.

His business done, Drifter turned around and began walking back the way he had come, only to stop dead in an instant. A bolt of what appeared to be green electricity shot through the air in front of him, causing him to yelp and jump back in surprise. More bolts began shooting through the air, intent on manifesting directly in front of Drifter. He clumsily drew his sidearm, unsure if it would be of any help to him.

A small green oval formed in the air, much to Drifter's confusion, and quickly expanded in size.

"H-holy shit!" Drifter exclaimed, eyeing the glowing green oval which was now about two meters tall and one meter wide. "What the _fuck_ is this!?"

Drifter saw a group of stalkers emerge from around the house. They must have heard the crackling bolts of electricity and Drifter's exclamations. They immediately raised their weapons and Drifter quickly lowered his own. They all stood for a moment, eyeing the oval between them.

"Drifter!" One of them called out, his rifle pointed at the oval. "What the hell is this thing!?"

"How should I know!?" Drifter replied, his arms shooting out to his sides. "Stop pointing your guns at me for fuck sakes!"

The stalkers hesitantly did so, and a man at the front of the group took a few steps forward. Drifter recognized his fellow stalker Fanatic through the green glow.

"Drifter! Come over on this side!"

Drifter shook his head. "No way! I'm not moving until it's gone! Who knows what new kind of hell the Zone is forcing on us now!"

Before anyone else could speak, the oval began to shimmer, humming loudly with an unknown energy. Before Drifter could realize what was happening, something shot towards him and hit him square in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

As quickly as it had appeared, the oval snapped closed and disappeared, leaving only silence in its wake.

"Drifter! Drifter!" Fanatic called as he advanced on his fallen comrade with the other stalkers, weapons ready. "Drifter, are you…" Fanatic trailed as he came upon Drifter, seeing a bizarre sight. His fellow stalker seemed to be tangled in something rather odd.

"A-a girl?" Drifter sputtered. He rolled the unconscious girl off himself and shakily rose to his feet. She was a young blonde, her hair long and done in ringlets it seemed. Her clothes were a strange assortment, a white blouse, a black skirt, and a long black cape. Drifter cocked an eyebrow, who actually wore capes? He shook his head.

_Never mind that, what the hell just happened anyway!?_

"Now that," a stalker, Hound, piped up, "was the craziest shit I've ever seen."

Fanatic sighed, taking his eyes off Hound and looking back down to Drifter. "Drifter, take the girl to Sidorovich. Explain what happened, he'll know what to do."

"What?" Drifter breathed, holstering his weapon. "What does that old man know? Did you _see_ what happened!?"

"Listen, you heard what I said," Fanatic growled. "Sidorovich knows what to do in this situation, take the girl to him."

Sighing, Drifter lifted the girl bridal style and trudged past the other stalkers, who all seemed intent on getting a look at the blonde in his arms. He passed the now vacant fire and continued further down the road.

He didn't understand how Sidorovich would know what to do. For all Drifter knew, Sidorovich was just a fat, balding and rude old man who charged too much for whatever he sold, and never took a step outside. He was sure the only reason he was still around was his connection to the outside. He eyed the girl's face out of the corner of his eye. Nodding to himself, he had to admit, she was pretty. _Really_ pretty.

He frowned as he reached the entrance to Sidorovich's bunker. The bunker was located on the outskirts of the village, and was underground. Drifter was pretty sure it had been a fallout shelter before Sidorovich had moved into it, and could very well still function as one.

Drifter descended the stairs, taking more care than usual not to trip. Reaching a landing and turning 90 degrees, the door to the innards of the bunker came into view, left ajar as usual. Sidorovich was plainly visible through the window in his walled off area of the bunker. He sat behind his desk, looking bored as he watched something on his computer screen. He noticed Drifter approaching as he descended the last of the stairs, and raised an eyebrow at the girl in his arms.

"Drifter," Sidorovich began in his gravelly voice as he paused whatever he was watching. "If you're trying to sell a little girl, you've come to the wrong place."

Drifter sighed. "That's good to hear, I'm not trying to sell her. I… uh… don't think you'll believe what happened, but Frantic said you'd know what to do, so…"

Sidorovich snorted, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Humor me then."

"Well, I was at the fire telling the guys about the snorks down at the car park, and…"

"Oh come on, I don't give a shit about that. Just tell me about the girl," Sidorovich groaned. However, he quickly seemed to have a change of heart. "Actually, tell me about that after you tell me about the girl. We might have to do something about them if they start coming our way. Why didn't you say anything earlier about that?"

"Hey, I told Fanatic all about it, he said he was going to do something," Drifter replied with a sigh, intent on getting the conversation on track. "Anyway, she came out of a big green oval."

"Bullshit!" Sidorovich exclaimed suddenly, standing up from his chair. "You can't be serious!"

"I am! Ask Fanatic, he was there too!"

Grunting, Sidorovich grabbed a set of keys from his desk and moved to open a rickety looking door on the edge of his homemade wall. "Quickly, bring her in here."

Confused, Drifter did as he was told, entering Sidorovich's side of the bunker. The old man quickly locked the door and led Drifter into the back of his bunker, into his living space. A single, small room contained everything a simple man would need. Cooking supplies, a place to lay their head, and an honest-to-god bathroom.

Drifter sighed happily at the thought. He hadn't used a real bathroom in ages.

If the jealous kind of stalker laid eyes on this, they might tell their friends and try to storm the bunker to take it for themselves. Although, if this were to happen, there would be no more connection to the outside, and besides, nobody really wanted to fight the entire village just to get it.

"Put her down here," Sidorovich ordered, pointing towards an old sagging couch. Drifter nodded, setting the girl down lightly. Sidorovich eyed her over and sighed. "She's not like the last one, that's for sure."

"_What_?" Drifter asked, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Sidorovich glanced at the stalker and motioned towards what looked like an old French maid outfit hanging from a clothes hangar rack amongst some other clothes. "Fanatic never told you? This isn't the first time this has happened."

As Sidorovich began explaining to the gawking stalker, the blonde girl stirred on the couch, unconsciously bringing her body closer together for warmth.

Montmorency Margarita la Fére de Montmorency would have quite the surprise waiting for her when she awoke.

* * *

_Made it to chapter 3! Would have posted it last night, but I decided to let it wait instead of staying up until 3 in the morning. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for chapter 4 where Siesta and Louise tackle an actual in-game mission!_


	4. Humble Beginnings IV

_Humble Beginnings IV_

_Zaton_

_07:43_

From the deck of the Skadovsk, the calm morning air was permeated by the sound of distant gunfire. It was not an uncommon sound in the Zone, occasional pops, cracks, and bouts of automatic fire were perfectly normal. However, the gunfire drifting through the air now was different, one shot after another again and again. It had been that way for the better part of an hour.

Pilot stood on the Skadovsk's deck, leaning against the railing and enjoying a morning cigarette. He wondered, was someone doing target practice?

He sighed, noticing a familiar formation of dark clouds to the north. He decided he may as well stay inside at this point. His trip into Yanov would be a little delayed.

North of the Skadovsk and up in the wooded hills, Siesta sighed with a pair of binoculars pressed to her face.

"You missed again, low-left this time."

Louise groaned, slowly and deliberately cycling the action of Siesta's Mosin-Nagant rifle while still eyeing what she had been trying to shoot. The pinkette had been roused early in the morning after the worst sleep of her life, and she and Siesta had taken a trip into the hills to practice shooting. Louise's target was a section of steel, snatched from the Skadovsk's aging hull. It had been a troublesome affair to carry the heavy piece of metal through the marsh and uphill, but their location kept them well out of the way.

"This is hopeless," Louise sighed, taking aim at the steel once again from a crouched position. Siesta had placed the target a fair distance away so it wouldn't be too easy for her to hit.

"Yeah, you kind of suck," Siesta laughed, lowering the binoculars to see the pinkette shooting her a glare. "Pretty sure you have to reload, by the way."

Louise's glare melted into confusion. "No, the gun holds five, right? There's one more in it."

Holding her aim on the steel the best she could, Louise prepared for the rifle's stock to hammer her shoulder once again as she pulled the trigger, but she was only met with a hollow click. She heard Siesta chuckling and her glare returned in full force.

"Told you. Can you count to five or not?"

"Shut up," Louise growled. She rose to her feet to relieve her knees of the pressure of being kneeled on while digging into a deep pocket in her newly acquired coat for more ammunition. They had gotten the long black coat and a pair of tan trousers from Owl the night before, and even though they were the smallest the trader had, they were still a little on the big side. Her fashion sense cried out in horror in the back of her mind, which she tried her best to ignore. They were practical clothes, they kept her body at a comfortable temperature and the coat offered plenty of storage with its interior and exterior pockets. Without a brush to tame her hair in the morning, she had simply resorted to putting it up in a simple ponytail, a practical hairstyle to match her new attire.

Louise's hand came out of the pocket with five cartridges, and she began inserting them into the rifle's internal magazine individually. The magazine full, she closed the bolt and crouched to take aim again.

"Try and hit it this time," Siesta commented from behind her binoculars, feeling the pinkette's glare hit her once again.

Louise aimed the hefty M91/30, steadying it the best she could before firing. As the sound of the gunshot rolled through the trees, Louise heard a metallic clang drift back.

"Hit, low-center," Siesta observed, turning to grin at Louise as she cycled another round into the Mosin's chamber. "So that's… seven hits and sixteen-million misses?"

Louise growled. "You obviously haven't been keeping track. That's the twelfth time I've hit it."

"Are you sure about that? You couldn't count to five a minute ago."

"You're insufferable," Louise shot back before letting another 7.62mm bullet fly. A satisfying metallic ring reached her ears again. She smiled for a moment, quickly taking it back. She shouldn't be enjoying this. It was barbaric. Siesta had told her the night before that she needed to let go of being a Noble, since it literally had no bearing at all in a place like this, but old habits die hard.

"Two in a row, huh?" Siesta commented, lowering her binoculars. "Don't think it'll ever happen again though."

Louise sucked her teeth and shook her head, cycling the Mosin again. She watched as the empty casing was flicked away when the bolt reached its reward position, and picked up a fresh one when she pushed it forward. Despite thinking it was rather barbaric, she found it quite interesting. "I didn't think guns could be like this. It seems to be much more efficient than slamming everything down the barrel."

Louise fired again, and Siesta advised that her bullet had missed low and right.

"That old bolt-action is nothing compared to newer guns," Siesta said, picking up on Louise's comment.

"I see," Louise said, firing again only to miss high. "Why don't you have a newer gun then?"

Siesta smiled. "That Mosin has served me well. I've had it ever since I first came to the Zone. I kind of got attached to it. Besides, my pistol is a semi-automatic."

The weapon terminology was lost on Louise as she rolled her eyes. She felt that an instrument of death was nothing to get attached to. She fired the final shot out of the Mosin's magazine, the metallic ping coming back to them a moment later. She began loading the weapon again, pausing as Siesta spoke up.

"That's enough of that for now. Seems like you're getting the hang of it," Siesta said, stretching her back as she stood. She glanced down at her watch. "Don't wanna use up all the ammo. Let's go back to the Skadovsk and get something to eat."

Louise made a noise of disgust as she finished loading the rifle. "That food is wretched."

Siesta scoffed, turning around and walking away. "Don't complain. That's the best you're going to get around here."

"H-hey!" Louise called out, jogging briefly to catch up with Siesta. "Don't you want your rifle back?"

"You carry it," Siesta said, flapping a hand dismissively. "It's heavy."

Louise sighed. The Mosin was indeed a hefty piece of wood and steel. To the pinkette it seemed like it would be a troublesome thing to have to bring everywhere. Louise's eyes drifted up to the sky as the sun was blotted out. It had begun to cloud over, rather quickly in fact.

The woods thinned out and the marshes came into view. The mud on Louise's new boots had just managed to dry, and she was only going to get them wet again. The pinkette frowned, she hated mud. A lot. She thought for a moment, considering if mud would fit into the top five things she hated most.

As they began to descend the hillside into the marshes Siesta stopped Louise with a raised hand. She pointed downward into the marsh. "There's a boar."

"A boar?"

Siesta nodded, and Louise followed the stalker's pointed finger. A single boar casually drank out of a murky puddle near a row of reeds.

"They're really aggressive, typically," Siesta continued, looking up at the sky and casting a glance over her shoulder to the north. She clicked her tongue in an annoyed manner before quickly turning back to the boar. "They usually travel in packs, two or three most of the time. Sometimes they have fleshes with them as well. It's odd to see one alone."

"I see."

Siesta cast a sideways glance at the pinkette. "Hey, take this seriously alright? You'll want to know stuff like this if you're out on your own."

Louise huffed. "I am taking it seriously."

"Really? Then shoot it."

"W-what?" Louise asked, surprised by Siesta's sudden order. "Why? I-it's just minding its own business right? There's no need to shoot it… right?"

The stalker let out a sigh as she rolled her eyes. "Didn't I just say it's _aggressive_? Obviously once it knows were here it's going to try and attack. It's in our way, so we might as well get rid of it."

"I… fine," Louise sighed, crouching down and readying the Mosin.

"Don't get me wrong," Siesta began, looking over Louise's shoulder. "I don't go around killing things just because I can. If you can avoid a fight, avoid it, but sometimes you've got no choice, you know?"

Louise was silent, the only sign she even registered what Siesta had said was a slight nod. She bit her lip, mentally saying _sorry_ to the boar before pulling the trigger.

The bullet tore through the boar's flesh as if it were a wet piece of paper. Snorting in anger, it stumbled forward for a moment before collapsing in the same puddle it had been drinking from, slowly adding a new color to the already dark water.

"Nice," Siesta observed, nodding. "I figured you'd miss."

Louise sighed, cycling the Mosin. "Am I supposed to feel good after that?"

Siesta shrugged. "I dunno. I just kind of feel indifferent."

A rustling from below caught Siesta's attention. Two more boars emerged from the reeds, snorting and growling. They quickly charged through the puddle towards the pair, intent on avenging their fallen comrade, if boars could even have such a mentality.

Louise let out a surprised squeak, raising the Mosin to bear once again. Siesta quickly drew her sidearm, a Fort-12 pistol, and dispatched the first boar with three quick shots, while Louise luckily scored a hit on the second. The pinkette eyed the boar she had shot as it flopped over onto its side, legs still moving wildly as it snorted in pain. Two more shots from Siesta's pistol silenced the boar.

Siesta directed a raised eyebrow in Louise's direction, who sighed. "It.. it's my first time killing animals, okay? I didn't think they could… twitch like that when you… you know."

Siesta rolled her eyes and chuckled, holstering her pistol. "We might make a stalker out of you yet, Valliére." Louise frowned, rising from her crouched position and cycling an unfired cartridge into the rifle. Siesta continued, saying, "come on, we should get back to the Skadovsk."

Louise nodded, cradling the Mosin as she followed Siesta into the marsh. They weaved through the tall plants, their journey inevitably lengthened as they took time to avoid bodies of water in favor of more solid ground. Their dried boots became muddy once again as the Skadovsk neared.

"Oh!" Louise yelped, her foot sinking into the mud up to her ankle.

Siesta glanced over her shoulder, laughing at the pinkette's angered expression. "Just wait until you get in up to your knees."

"My knees?" Louise sighed, the mud making a wet sucking noise as she plucked her foot from its grasp. "Does this dreadful mud ever go away?"

"Yeah, in the winter. When it freezes," Siesta said, nodding. "We should keep…" Siesta trailed off as a suspicious noise travelled through the air. A deep groan seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, almost as if the atmosphere itself was under a great pressure. Siesta looked past Louise and frowned.

"W-w-what was that!?" Louise asked desperately, turning around to look in the same direction as Siesta. A huge formation of darkening clouds was quickly growing in size. The pinkette jumped as the sound of thunder rolled through the air and the wind began to pick up.

"Emission soon."

"E… what?" Louise asked, facing the stalker. "What does that mean!?"

"It means we really have to get back to the Skadovsk," Siesta said sternly, motioning with a flick of her head. "C'mon, jog."

"W-wait!" Louise called out, but was promptly ignored. She let out a ragged sigh, chasing after Siesta in a light jog. Luckily, the Skadovsk wasn't far. After splashing through some shallow puddles, and avoiding larger ones, Louise slowed as she passed through the opening in the Skadovsk's hull. It hadn't been a long jog, but the pinkette was nearly out of breath as she caught up with Siesta at the door.

Siesta eyed Louise flatly, shaking her head. "You've gotta get back in shape. Then again, you were probably never in any kind of shape to begin with."

"Shut up!" Louise breathed as Siesta wrenched the door open. They swiftly entered, leaving the door open for an approaching group of stalkers, and found their way to a vacant table by the wall. Louise plopped down and leaned back in her chair, propping Siesta's rifle against the wall.

"I'll go grab some food and stuff," Siesta announced, to which Louise nodded. The pinkette slumped forward, resting her head in her arms as she released a groan. She wanted nothing more than to be home in Tristain right now, and she had a feeling that she'd only miss home more and more as the days went on.

She wondered what the people at the Academy thought had happened to her. Perhaps they thought she was dead? She certainly hoped not. She feared how her ill sister Cattleya would react if such news were to reach her. Another thought entered the pinkette's head as the ship shuddered with the increasing winds outside.

Maybe she _was_ dead, and this was hell.

She shook her head of the thought. She felt far too alive to be dead, and she'd imagine hell would be much, much worse than this. Besides, what could she have possibly done to deserve eternal damnation in hell? Louise jumped slightly when Siesta tossed a couple of flat round cans on the table and unceremoniously flopped down in the opposite chair after removing her backpack.

"Eat up, sunshine," Siesta said dryly, sliding a can, fork, and a bottle of water across the table.

Louise eyed the can of tuna fish with contempt, having tried the canned food the night before. She found it retched. She glanced up at the stalker, who had already dug in. "Sunshine?"

Siesta shrugged, speaking with her mouth full. "You look depressed."

Louise narrowed her eyes for a moment, quickly catching onto the ex-maid's sarcasm. "Would you not feel depressed if you were in my situation?"

"I was in your situation," Siesta replied quickly, pointing with her fork. "And I was pretty depressed. I still am, sometimes, when I think about my family." She forked another mouthful of tuna. "I suppose they must think I'm dead now."

Louise frowned, prying open the can and shuddering at the odor. More thunder, this time the ship seemed to vibrate with it. Louise turned to look at the door as a few late arrivals hastily stumbled in, completely out of breath. She swore it was turning red outside.

"What is happening? Does this happen often?" Louise asked, referring to the emission.

"Oh right! Emission," Siesta said, twirling her fork in the air. "Sometimes from the center of the Zone, there's this huge release of energy. It happens randomly, usually it's once every day or two, but there's been times where it's been weeks without one."

"I don't understand," Louise sighed, forcing a mouthful of tuna down her throat. "Why do we have to be inside? Is it kind of like… a really bad storm?"

"I suppose you could put it that way," Siesta nodded, taking a swig from her bottle. "If you can't find cover during an emission, you're done for." Seeing Louise's expression begging for more information, Siesta continued. "The energy affects the minds and bodies of anything living. You'd be lucky if you just dropped dead. Those who aren't so lucky get zombified."

Louise choked on the tuna she had been about to swallow, making the dreadful taste remain in her mouth longer than she cared for. "Z-zombified? Zombies!? _What_!?"

"Ah," Siesta smiled. "So you know zombies, huh?"

Louise sighed. "I… I might not look the type, but I do enjoy a good horror novel."

"Me too. Now you get to live one."

Louise stared down at the table, picking at the can of tuna absentmindedly as she wondered if any sane person would actually want to live a horror novel. There were always rumors of people magically controlling the dead to do their bidding in Halkeginia. Necromancy was a dreadful and dark art. Obviously, this was a different situation altogether.

Forcing another mouthful of tuna down, Louise scanned over the room. The ship had become quite crowded, and while the din of conversation was loud, it failed to drown out the weather occurring outside. Louise continued to scan the room, noticing that quite a few stares still came her way.

It was then, Louise noticed something troubling near the bar.

"S-Siesta! Oh god!"

Siesta snapped to attention, glaring. "You scared the shit out of me! What is it!?"

"Look!" Louise pointed, fear clearly written on her features. "I-it's horrible!"

Confused, Siesta turned to look where Louise was pointing. She saw nothing out of the ordinary. "I don't see anything."

"How can you not? In that box over there! There's… oh Founder Siesta, there's people in it!"

Siesta laid eyes on the television above the bar, and knew exactly what Louise was thinking. How had she not noticed it before?

Siesta was unable to contain her laughter.

* * *

The upper levels of the Skadovsk were occupied by a few different personalities, one of the more notable being Cardan. He could usually found in his small workshop above the bar, hunched over gutted firearms with a cigarette hanging between his lips, and a bottle of vodka nearby. In Zaton, if a stalker was unlucky enough to have his weapon damaged or broken, Cardan was the man to see.

While most stalkers were competent enough to keep their best means of self-defence in working order, Cardan certainly had his regulars. They were obviously a good source of income, but the veteran stalker couldn't help but be annoyed.

He sighed as he continued his disassembly of an AK-74, hearing the familiar groan of the metal flooring as somebody approached. He didn't bother to look up, expecting to hear a familiar voice ring out with, _'hey dude! I totally broke my shooter again man!'_

A voice that never came. The footsteps – make that a pair of footsteps – halted just inside the room, with neither of the unknown visitors saying anything. He glanced up from his work, taking a drag from his cigarette. His eyebrows found their way up his forehead when he noticed who had come to visit him.

He recognized one stalker immediately as Siesta. She was fairly well known around Zaton, despite having not been in the area long. She was the only female around, after all. Keyword being _was_.

Standing next to Siesta was another girl, a tiny thing that didn't look a day over twelve years old. Her most striking feature was her hair, bright pink in color. Upon closer observation, he found that her eyes were even more striking, just as pink as her hair, and bright with the life of somebody who hadn't had their heart torn out by the Zone yet. She curiously looked around the room, eyeing Cardan's organized mess of firearm components and scrapped weapons.

Cardan tore his eyes away from Louise, who he had now dubbed 'Pinky' in his mind. Instead, he turned his vision to the other veteran stalker in the room.

"Siesta," he greeted, receiving a nod in return. "What is it that you've broken?"

"Nothing," Siesta replied simply in her heavily accented Ukrainian. "Beard said you had work."

"Work?" Cardan said, turning back to the Kalashnikov on his workbench. "I've got an unfinished job, yeah."

Hearing nothing from Siesta, he glanced in her direction and saw her expression telling him to explain. He took a final drag from his cigarette, crushing the butt in a nearby ashtray. He removed the bolt carrier and gas piston assembly from the AK, using it to gesture about as he began explaining.

"A couple of weeks ago Magpie asked me if I needed any work done, so I asked him to see if he can find me some better tools. Now, before I start, you know how things go with Magpie, right?"

Siesta snorted. "Unfortunately."

"Yeah. He kept telling me about how he had the perfect tools, all he had to do was go get them, but he didn't have the time," Cardan snorted. "Load of bullshit, I think. One day he told me he was going to get them after he did some work with Gonta and his hunters, but I never saw him after that."

Siesta nodded, remembering the disappearance of Magpie and what happened to Gonta and his hunters well. Cardan continued. "So, I don't know what happened to Magpie, nobody does, but those tools he found might still be stashed where he left them, if there were even any in the first place. I'll make it worth your while to go and check it out."

"Where?" Siesta asked.

"In the Sawmill," Cardan replied, he paused to think for a moment. "He said in a small house, in the attic, I think. I don't remember the layout of the place well."

Siesta was silent for a few moments, before nodding. "Alright. I'll go look."

"Awesome. I'll still compensate you even if you can't find anything, but if you do, there'll definitely be money in it, or maybe I can whip up something for you," Cardan said, motioning to the assortment of firearm parts lying around.

Siesta nodded, quickly excusing herself and Louise. The pinkette finally spoke as they made their way towards the stairs.

"So… what is it that we're doing, exactly?"

Remembering that Louise couldn't understand Ukrainian, Siesta decided to give her a quick run-down of the situation as they descended into the bar. To Louise it seemed a simply enough task, walk somewhere, look around for these tools, and then walk back. As they made their way through the bar, the pair found themselves stopped by Grouse.

"Siesta," he greeted quickly, not waiting for a response as he continued. "Are you busy right now?"

Siesta looked surprised for a moment, before responding. "Doing something for Cardan, but…"

Siesta found herself cut off as Grouse raised a hand. "It's fine, don't worry about it." He quickly left the pair, heading into the upper levels of the Skadovsk.

"What was that about?" Louise asked.

"No idea," Siesta admitted with a shrug, heading for the door with Louise in tow. "Strange guy."

They left the innards of the Skadovsk, heading right as they shut the door, and going right again once they exited the hull. As they reached the top of a hill, Louise saw the large pipeline that she had noticed from a distance already. It was suspended high enough off the ground to walk under, and was definitely large enough around for a normal sized person to crawl into. It angled down into the earth close to the Skadovsk, becoming an underground pipe. Louise looked across the marshes, tracing with her eyes the pipe that emerged from the ground on the other side and continued. No doubt it was the same pipe, and it seemed that was the direction Siesta had planned on heading.

"Pipe can lead us right to the Sawmill, if we want," Siesta explained, noticing where Louise was looking. She adjusted the rifle strapped across her back and pointed to the hills across the marsh. "We'd get pretty wet though, so we'll take a detour. There's more water on the other side of that hill. I'm not in the mood to get soaked."

"I like the sound of that," Louise said, frowning as the mud met her boots once again. "So this person named Magpie told Cardan he was going to bring him the tools he wanted, but he just disappeared?"

"Magpie was… well, I met him once," Siesta explained as they traversed the marsh. "He was a total douchebag. Always trying to screw people over, being generally unpleasant, stuff like that."

"Doosh-bag?" Louise asked, unfamiliar with the term.

Siesta laughed. "That sounds really funny coming out of your mouth. It's an insult."

Louise huffed. "Right then. So this man was _generally unpleasant_. Please, continue."

"Alright, so," Siesta began. "One day Gonta hired Magpie to go with him and his hunters to hunt down a chimera, or something along those lines. They came to me after hiring Magpie, and asked if I wanted to come along as well, but I turned them down."

"Why's that?"

Siesta rolled her eyes. "Because _Magpie_ was there. They came back afterward and Crab was pretty beat up, apparently Magpie ran away, leaving Gonta and his guys to face the chimera while he stole their gear. He hasn't been seen in Zaton since."

They reached the hill on the other side of the marshes, ascending away from the muddy terrain onto more solid ground.

"That's despicable," Louise said, shaking her head.

"No kidding," Siesta said as they ascended the hillside. "If Gonta ever sees him again, I'm sure he'll blow his head right off."

They soon reached a road that ran perpendicular to the pipeline, and Louise followed as Siesta left the pipe to follow the road. If she wasn't mistaken, it was the same road they had followed to get to the Oakpine, only they were heading in the opposite direction. They had only taken a few steps on the road when a small pack of animals rushed across the road ahead of them, heading down into the marshes.

"Fleshes," Siesta commented, seeing that Louise was going for her Makarov. "Let them go. They're easily frightened, they don't usually attack unless you get too close."

"R-right."

They continued to follow the road, and Louise saw that they were closing in on a small cluster of houses. If she wasn't mistaken, they all looked completely charred black. Upon closer inspection, barely anything was left standing. Most the houses were missing walls, while some were reduced to heaps of ashes.

"Is that… the Sawmill?" Louise asked hesitantly, hoping they wouldn't be sifting through ashes and rubble.

"Nope," Siesta said, grinning. "They call that one the Burnt Farmstead. Normally I'd just go around it, but I wanna show you something cool."

Louise could only wonder what Siesta meant. How could a bunch of burned out houses have anything 'cool' in store for them? As they neared the structures, Louise felt the air around them becoming warmer. When they passed the first house, Louise felt like she desperately needed to shed her coat. The pinkette stopped when she noticed Siesta had stopped to stare at her, sweat visible on her face. Louise looked around, seeing that the air on either side of the road was hazy, even a few embers sparked and crackled on the ground at random.

"Siesta," Louise said slowly, wiping at her brow. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Are you warm?" Siesta asked, smiling.

"Of course I'm warm!" Louise shot, growing uncomfortable. She hated extreme heat, because it made her sweat, and she _loathed_ sweating.

Siesta threw her head back in a short laugh before reaching into a pouch on her belt and pulling out a small object.

"What is that?" Louise asked snappily, eager to leave the strange warmth of the Burnt Farmstead.

"A bolt," Siesta replied. "Check this out." Siesta swiftly threw the bolt into the hazy air. Louise shrieked in surprise when a large jet of flames shot straight upward where the bolt had passed through, burning furiously for a few moments before sputtering out. She gawked, looking from Siesta, to the hazy air, and back to Siesta again.

"W-what in the Founder's name?" Louise asked. "What just happened!?"

"Burner anomaly," Siesta explained, gesturing towards the hazy air drifting up from the ground. "I wanted to show you this. If you ever see the air all hazy like this and the area around is burnt or really hot, good chance it's a burner."

"So if I touch it," Louise began, looking into the haze. "Fire will just shoot out of nowhere?"

"Yeah, and you'll probably catch fire as well," Siesta said, motioning up the road with a flick of her head. "Come on. Stay on the road and walk where I do."

Louise did as she was told, walking closely behind Siesta until the small village was behind them. The cool breeze that flowed past afterward felt like a blessing, she sighed happily. They continued along the road mostly in silence, the barks of dogs in the distance, wails of unidentifiable creatures, and pops and cracks of distant gunfire were the only things that served to break the silence around them.

Siesta pointed out a twisted and gnarly looking tree where all the leafless branches seemed to point in the same direction, which Louise eyed with a drawn out 'hmm.' After a few more moments of walking, Louise looked out across the hills as the road began to curve. Over the next hill the world seemed to just disappear in a veil of fog. Staring into it, Louise felt as if she was looking at the end of the world itself. She suppressed a shudder, thankful that the road was steadily curving left and away from that direction.

"What's that way?" Louise asked after a few moments of hesitation.

Siesta stopped, staring out into the fog. "The center of the Zone."

"Oh," Louise responded, swallowing. "So we're that close, huh?"

Nodding, Siesta spared a glance at the pinkette.

"I see… is it always shrouded in fog like that?"

"Oh, no," Siesta shook her head, continuing along the road once again. "It's just foggy out there today, I guess. You can actually see it most of the time. It's a big building."

A short stone bridge soon came into view, and across the gap in the earth Louise saw that the trees thickened substantially.

"Do you see it? In the trees?" Siesta asked, pointing across the bridge. If Louise tried hard enough, she could make out the shapes of a few buildings hidden within the trees. It seemed to be a fenced in compound atop an elevated area shrouded in pine trees, making it impossible to pick out any useful details. The road they were following cut through the trees, leading to a gate.

"Would that be the Sawmill?" Louise asked hopefully.

"It would," Siesta grinned, nodding as they began to cross the bridge. "I'm pretty sure I know which building Cardan was talking about, so this shouldn't take too long. This place is usually abandoned."

"Good," Louise said quickly.

Siesta looked over her shoulder as they reached the other side of the bridge, sticking her tongue out playfully. Louise shot her a quick glare before turning her attention to the ground in front of her. She hadn't walked much further when she found herself walking into Siesta's back. Louise glared up at the back of the stalker's head, intent on telling her not to just stop walking for no reason.

Louise yelped as Siesta grabbed her firmly by the arm and dragged her off the road to hide behind a thick evergreen.

"What did you do that for?" Louise growled.

"Shut up," Siesta quickly shot back, brandishing her binoculars. "I saw some people at the gate down the road, we're lucky we weren't spotted."

Louise quickly shrunk back, a dead weight settling in her stomach. She had enough common sense in her to know that bandits would roam the lands of a place like this, it was only natural.

"Shit," Siesta swore under her breath. It was all Louise needed to assume the worst.

"I-is it bandits?" Louise asked nervously. "Have they spotted us? Should we run?"

"Zombies," Siesta growled, lowering her binoculars. "You've got to be _fucking_ kidding me."

This was going to be much more troublesome than Siesta had anticipated.

* * *

_A/N: Not much happening in this chapter, sadly. Mostly walking and dialogue. I originally wanted the complete 'find basic tools for Cardan' mission in this chapter as well, along with a few other scenes after that, but it started becoming too long so I decided to end it here. My intention for this story was to have the chapters to be around 3 – 6 thousand words each, excluding the first chapter. When this chapter started getting close to 10 thousand, I decided to cut it here. _

_This might change in the near future. However, I still don't plan on cranking out 20 thousand word chapters for each update. _

_But fear not, because chapter 5 is basically finished, and only has to be touched up. It will be along very soon, and we will see how Louise fares against the zombified stalkers._

_Also, fun fact: I don't know about the vanilla game, but I know if you're playing Call of Pripyat with the Misery mod, then you can see Reactor 4 most of the time on the Zaton map, you might have to get to higher ground to see it, but it's there, and it's really far away, to the north. I tried seeing in the vanilla game, but after starting a new game about fifteen times to reset the weather effects, it's just always fog out that way. Nevertheless, I decided to include it anyway. _


	5. Humble Beginnings V

_Humble Beginnings V_

_Zaton_

_13:05_

"Z-z-z-zombies!?" Louise sputtered, the color draining out of her face. "O-oh! That's unfortunate, I g-guess we're just going to have to go back and tell the man we couldn't get his tools." She laughed forcibly and nervously. "W-what a shame too, s-s-since we walked all the way out here!"

Louise suddenly found a pair of blue eyes boring into her own and froze up when Siesta clamped a hand down hard on her shoulder.

"Oh we're getting those tools," Siesta said, seemingly deadly serious. Then, a longing and almost maniacal expression crossed her face. "You saw all those parts lying around in the workshop, there were enough spare AK parts to make half a dozen working rifles, at the very least. Cardan said he could whip something up if we brought back those tools for him, if he can make us an AK…" Siesta squealed happily, drawing Louise into a girlish hug. "I want one!"

Louise pried the ex-maid off her, not understanding her excitement over firearms one bit. She pointed an accusing finger at Siesta. "H-hey! You said that your rifle is good enough for you! You _said_ that you've become attached to it, so you don't need another gun!"

"I've changed my mind!" Siesta chirped, eyeing Louise impishly. "Just now, actually."

Louise sighed, closing her eyes as she massaged her temples. She opened them again, and saw that Siesta's facial expression hadn't changed. She bit her lip, suddenly wanting nothing more than to wipe the expression off the stalker's face.

"Are you scared, Louise?" Siesta asked suddenly, her grin fading. "Honestly, it's okay if you are."

"Am I _scared_?" Louise growled lowly, leaning in close to the ex-maid. "Of course I'm bloody scared! They're zombies, Siesta. _Zombies_! Do you really think I'd fancy being eaten alive?"

"Alright, alright!" Siesta glared, pushing Louise away. "Calm down."

Louise sighed, shrinking slightly under the stalker's glare. "So what are we going to do?"

"We could probably sneak through if we're lucky, the zombies are pretty stupid," Siesta began, readying her Mosin. "We'll have to kill any that get in our way."

"K-k-kill!?" Louise asked fearfully, tensing up before visibly relaxing. "Well, they are the undead, so I suppose it's for the best."

"Uh, they're not undead actually," Siesta explained, gaining a confused look from the pinkette. "Remember what I said about the emissions? They're still alive, just mindless."

Before Louise could respond, the rustling and snapping of somebody forcing themselves through the brush came to their attention. Louise saw it first, a figure shambling through the trees, loosely hanging onto a sawn-off shotgun. A zombie that had wandered down the hill from the Sawmill had managed to evade their attention thus far, and had inadvertently snuck up on them. Louise couldn't move, or even make a sound. Fear had completely enveloped her as her eyes locked onto the shotgun, which was now moving to point towards her.

Siesta wrapped an arm around Louise's waist, pulling her around the tree to put it between them and the zombie. The first shot from the zombie's shotgun tore up the ground, sending dirt into the air to rain down on the pair. The second shot glanced off the side of the tree, the buckshot taking wood and bark with it.

Releasing Louise, Siesta spun out from around the tree and efficiently landed a shot from her Mosin square on the zombie's chest. It emitted a raspy groan as it stumbled backward, blood spilling from its mouth. Intent on downing the mindless stalker before it could reload its shotgun, Siesta fired again, watching as the zombie's head was flung backwards before it collapsed in a heap.

Cycling the Mosin, Siesta spared a glance at Louise, finding her white as a ghost.

"You… y-you," Louise began shakily, swallowing. "You killed him… you just killed that man!"

"No shit!" Siesta growled, frowning. She motioned for Louise to follow, advancing on the downed zombie. "He was a zombie, what did you expect me to do? Let him kill us?"

Louise hesitantly followed after the stalker, not particularly inclined to see the state of the body. As she stopped next to Siesta, who was observing her handiwork, Louise felt her stomach churn. The first shot had simply punched a neat little hole through the zombie's chest, but the second shot had entered through the zombie's eye and had subsequently blown out a portion of the back of his skull, allowing blood and brain matter to freely leak onto the ground.

"So with these zombies, you don't _have_ to destroy the brain to kill them," Siesta began, crouching next to body and placing her rifle on the ground. She pried the shotgun from the zombie's hands. The sawn-off was a double barrel, in an over-under configuration. It wasn't sawn off to be quite as short as most shotguns she had seen, and interestingly the stock still remained to create sort of a coach gun. Siesta cracked open the shotgun, raising an eyebrow as the shells were ejected by the gun itself. It wasn't a model she was familiar with, and to her seemed like a handy little rig to keep around. "Like I said, they're still technically living. They've just become completely mindless."

The sound of somebody retching suddenly caught Siesta's attention. She turned to find Louise facing away, emptying her stomach into a bush.

"Oh come on Louise, you're throwing up?" Siesta scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I paid for that food you know, that's kind of rude."

"It's brains…" Louise moaned, wiping her mouth between retches. "I can see… his brains. Oh Founder!"

"Yes, you can. Now come here, please."

Louise shakily stepped over to Siesta, a hand held over her mouth. The stench of sweat, waste, and other bodily fluids wafted off the corpse in waves, hitting her like a brick wall.

"Don't think of it as killing a person," Siesta advised, stripping all the shotgun shells she could find off of the body. "Think of it as… putting them out of their misery. Yes, think of it like that. They walk around all day, shitting their pants, unable to make sense of anything happening around them. If I were in that situation, I'd definitely want someone to put a bullet in my head."

"Siesta, I…" Louise began, biting her lip. "I don't think I can do something like that, k-killing somebody."

"Zombies Louise, they're zombies," Siesta said, standing up and holding out the shotgun for Louise to take. "Just think of it as practice."

"P-practice?" Louise sputtered as she tenderly accepted the shotgun. "Practice for what?"

"Well," Siesta began, taking the liberty of dumbing a few handfuls of shells in one of Louise's coat pockets. "For when you have to kill somebody that's not so mindless."

When Louise didn't respond, Siesta began instructing the pinkette on the use of the shotgun. The simple operation of the weapon meant that there wasn't much of a learning curve to get over.

"Come on," Siesta said, motioning for Louise to follow. The pinkette did so without a word, advancing up the hill towards the fence. The chain link fence had a sizeable portion missing, allowing them easy entry, and any zombies an easy exit. Passing through the fence, they found themselves in an area where logs were being stored. Stacks of logs sat forgotten, having never gotten their turn to be cut down into lumber. They took cover behind a short stack, allowing them to easily peek over and observe the area.

Straight ahead, Siesta saw a large concrete building. A large set of double doors was at one end of the long building, and if memory served, there was another set at the other end. She could see one zombie aimlessly shambling to the side of the building, and another lurking just inside the doors. The tall stacks of logs obscured their view of the rest of the compound.

"Do… do you see any?" Louise asked timidly. Siesta glanced at the pinkette to find her trying to be as small as possible behind the logs as she kept a white-knuckled grip on her shotgun.

"Two," Siesta replied. She pointed with her rifle. "By the building over there."

"Alright," Louise sighed nervously. "What do you propose we-"

Louise was abruptly cut off by a drawn out groan from her right. Both her and Siesta's heads snapped in the direction the groan had come from. A zombie appeared from around a tall stack of logs, seemingly unaware of their presence, until Louise let out a tiny squeak of fear. The zombie slowly turned its head towards them, its eyes unfocused and saliva dripping from its gaping mouth. It wore a coat similar to Louise's, and loosely held a pistol in one of its hands.

"Shoot it!" Siesta barked as the zombie lazily raised its pistol in their direction. Louise wasted no time, and hastily leveled her shotgun in the zombie's direction. The shotgun barked, recoiling painfully into the pinkette's slender shoulder. While it felt like she was simply punched in the shoulder, the zombie had fared much worse. The buckshot had torn through its chest, causing it to collapse backward in a twitching heap.

"N-no!" Louise cried, eyeing the corpse in horror. "I d-didn't mean… why is it twitching!?"

Ignoring Louise's comment, Siesta grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the logs. They ran across open ground, taking cover by a derelict tractor. Siesta crouched and took the opportunity to fire on the zombie outside the concrete building. She saw it fall, and quickly adjusted as she cycled a new round into the chamber, moving to stand and fire over the tractor's bonnet at the zombie just inside the building. It fell as well.

"In the building!" Siesta ordered, taking off into a sprint with Louise not far behind. Shots rang out as they ran through the open, hissing as they flew dangerously close.

'_Don't hit me! Don't hit me!' _Louise prayed in her mind over and over as she ran. Shots tore up the ground between her and Siesta, causing Louise to scream in fright as dirt rained down on her. She flew in through the doors after Siesta, her thankfulness to be in the safety of the building shattered instantly.

A zombie shuffled in the middle of the room, apparently heading towards the door they had entered through, likely attracted by the sounds of gunfire. Siesta wasted no time, the last shot in her Mosin's magazine tearing through the zombie's stomach. The zombie jolted, taking a few steps back as blood began to soak its clothes. It still stood, luckily not holding onto any sort of weapon.

"Shit!" Siesta swore, going for her sidearm. Evidently, Louise beat her to the punch, a volley of buckshot from her shotgun tearing up the zombie's face and neck. Siesta glanced at Louise with raised eyebrows, seeing her breathing heavily with eyes wide, still holding her shotgun ready. The ex-maid began reloading her rifle. "Hey, reload."

"R-right!" Louise sputtered, breaking open her double-barrel. She replaced the ejected shells with shaking hands, and no more than a few seconds after she had locked the barrels back in place, she heard somebody shuffling about. She whirled around to the source of the noise, finding that a sub-machine gun wielding zombie had gotten in through a side door set into a small entryway.

Sparing Siesta a panicked glance, only to find she was still reloading, Louise raised her weapon and unleashed a shell of buckshot that tore through the zombie's chest. It stumbled backward, collapsing in the doorway.

"T-this is stupid! We s-shouldn't be doing this!" Louise cried, keeping one eye on the side entrance and another on the main door. She only hoped Siesta was doing something similar behind her. She glanced down at her shotgun. "E-every time I shoot this thing it feels like it's going to break my shoulder!"

"That'll happen when the barrels are cut short, but it shouldn't be _that_ bad," Siesta said, snorting. "You're just a bit of a weakling I suppose."

"How can you talk like that in this kind of situation!?" Louise growled, throwing a glance over her shoulder to thankfully find Siesta crouched with her rifle trained on the other set of double doors. She released a groan. "I think I'm going to vomit again."

"No time for that," Siesta said quickly, rising to her feet. "Reload again and let's move before more of them show up."

Cracking open the shotgun, Louise squeaked in surprise as the unfired shell ejected along with the empty one. She mumbled her distaste for firearms as she retrieved the unfired shell from the floor and placed it back in the bottom barrel, along with a fresh one in the top barrel.

They left the building through the doorway opposite the one they had entered through, finding themselves rather close to another fence. Siesta led, keeping close to the building as they moved to get a look at the rest of the Sawmill. Louise quietly peeked over her shoulder.

"Looks like they're heading our way," Siesta observed, clicking her tongue in annoyance. Indeed, some zombies seemed to be migrating uphill towards the building they had been in, while others seemed content with merely standing idle or walking in strange patterns. "We have to move before they find us," Siesta said, pointing to a small red brick building that sat close by. A rather large tank was situated on top, and interestingly, the pipeline that they had been following earlier seemed to have circled around the compound to connect to the building. Its purpose, Louise had no idea. "Let's take cover over there."

Louise had no objections, staying on Siesta's heels as they stealthily darted from one building to the other. Siesta lowered herself to the ground, laying down at the edge of the building with her rifle ready. Louise crouched down beside her, ready for their next move.

"I'm fairly certain that's the building," Siesta said, pointing a finger. Louise peeked out from around the building, seeing a small and quite run down house sitting at the opposite end of the compound, nestled in the corner. All they had to do was go in the house, get the tools from the attic - if they were even there - and get out. There was only one problem, it seemed.

"Founder above…" Louise breathed, moving back behind the building. "How many of those things are down there?"

"Over a dozen, at least. Probably closer to twenty," Siesta muttered, letting out a sigh of frustration. "_Fuck!_ We'll have to wait for them to wander away, so chill out for a bit, but don't let your guard down."

While not familiar with what it meant to 'chill out', it didn't take much thinking on Louise's part to get a general idea. She opted to remain standing, leaning her back against the building. After a few quiet moments, the pinkette eyed the stalker out of the corner of her eye. "Do you actually have to be so vulgar all the time? You were an Academy maid, were you not? I'm sure if you spoke like that even once you'd have been fired."

Siesta shot her a glare. "What are you talking about? You want to start nitpicking now? At a time like this? Fine, I can play that." Pausing for a moment, the ex-maid appeared to be having second thoughts. "You know what? Never mind, we can do that later."

"Only because you can't think of anything," Louise scoffed quietly.

Siesta's glare intensified. "Well, I can't blame you for being scared. I might not look like it but I'm freaking out right now. I also can't blame you for being a bad shot, since yesterday was probably the first time you've ever held a gun. Your Noble attitude is kind of annoying, but I suppose after… however long you've been alive, that it would be a hard thing to just stop in two days." Siesta's glare softened, melting into a cat-like smile. "But I seriously can't believe that you saw the TV in the Skadovsk and went like 'oh my god there's people trapped in that box!', that was properly hilarious."

Louise glared, her grip on the shotgun tightening. "Anybody in their right mind would be scared right now. There are zombies everywhere, and they have guns! That's probably the worst combination of things that could possibly ever happen. In regards to my shooting – as much as I dislike these weapons – I've been hitting everything I've intended to hit, haven't I? Of course I missed that piece of metal with your rifle a few times, it was really far away."

"Yeah, but you've got a shotgun now," Siesta laughed. "Anybody can hit something with a shotgun."

"Whatever," Louise growled, looking away from Siesta. "My attitude isn't just going to change either. I'd rather if it didn't change at all, if I'm honest. And the Tee-vee… I've… I've never seen anything like that before, o-okay!?"

"I know, I know," Siesta replied, waving a hand dismissively. "But you should have seen your face. You totally looked like a fish, all wide-eyed with your mouth open." Siesta imitated the expression, to which Louise only scoffed.

The pinkette opted not to say anything for a few moments after that. She simply leaned against the wall of the building looking down at her feet, taking occasional glances in the direction of the long concrete building to see if any zombies were coming their way. It soon became evident that they were not.

"I'm sixteen," Louise suddenly spoke up, remembering that when Siesta was speaking she had referenced not knowing how old she was. "My birthday is in the summer."

"Oh," Siesta replied simply. After a moment a smirk found its way across her face. "I could have sworn you were like, twelve."

"W-what!?" Louise sputtered, her face growing red. "Why is that? Is it my h-height? Or w-w-was it my… my…" Louise trailed off, hearing the ex-maid releasing a series of stifled giggles. "And now you're laughing! Why?"

"I was kidding, relax," Siesta winked, laughter still written on her face. "Just wanted to see how you'd react. Now keep quiet, if we just sit up here having pleasant conversation one of them is going to hear us eventually."

While not a conversation that Louise would have considered pleasant, Siesta's logic was sound. Having the entire compound-full of zombies bearing down on them would be less than ideal. In fact, being anywhere near this place was a less than ideal scenario in Louise's mind. She didn't particularly care about getting the tools for Cardan. She wished they would just return to the Skadovsk and tell Cardan that they couldn't get the tools because the Sawmill was currently occupied by a legion of zombies.

Louise heard the rustling and clinking of equipment coming from Siesta's position. She glanced, finding that the ex-maid was now looking through her pair of binoculars.

Sighing quietly, Louise wondered if this is how her mother felt early on in her career as a soldier. Nervous, apprehensive, scared. _Very_ scared. If Louise had faced this kind of situation alone, she would have certainly ran away and never looked back. It was the logical thing to do. A teenaged girl versus twenty or more gun-toting zombies? It was ridiculous. In fact, two teenaged girls versus twenty or more gun-toting zombies was just as ridiculous.

Was Siesta even teenaged? Louise realized that the stalker's age remained a mystery. She decided she'd ask later.

Despite the stupidity of the situation, Louise found herself remaining by Siesta's side. She obviously couldn't just run away and abandon the person who had decided to help her. It was an indecent and dishonorable thing to do. Running away now would just make her into another Magpie.

Gunfire suddenly erupted from the other end of the compound, causing Louise to release a stifled squeak in surprise. She turned to Siesta, who still gazed through her pair of binoculars.

"W-what's happening?" Louise asked nervously, crouching down and shuffling close to Siesta to peek around the building. "Did some people stumble into those zombies?"

"Better than that," Siesta snorted. "There's a huge pack of blind dogs down there."

"You're joking," Louise groaned. Unfortunately, it seemed Siesta wasn't joking. Outside the fence of the Sawmill a pack of dogs had attacked the zombies, who in turn had opened fire on the blind beasts. The gunfire was steadily attracting more and more of the zombies to that position, and away from the house Louise and Siesta wanted to search through.

"This could be good," Siesta began, rising to a crouched position. She put her binoculars away, slung her rifle onto her back and drew her sidearm. "Look, those zombies are all being attracted by the gunfire. Well, most of them anyway. We can slip in while they're distracted."

"A-are you sure? I mean…" Louise bit her lip, eyeing Siesta seriously. "I really don't want to die here."

"Don't worry," Siesta smiled, racking the slide of her pistol. "I've done stuff like this tons of times."

Louise frowned. Was it honestly possible to encounter more situations similar to this one? "That just makes me worry more."

Rolling her eyes with a smile still on her face, Siesta turned back to observe the conflict between the dogs and the zombies. When Louise had just begun to relax a little again, Siesta suddenly stood up and began running.

"Come on! Now!"

"W-what!? Wait!" Louise cried, taking off after the stalker. The sprinted towards the house, the area now void of any zombies aside from a few stragglers. A shambling stalker to their left was quickly taken care of by Siesta's pistol, and another standing idly to their right was met with a load of buckshot.

They flew into the house with weapons ready for any mindless stalkers that may be waiting. Louise followed Siesta as she began quickly searching through the rooms, muttering obscenities every few seconds. It didn't take long to find a room with a weathered wooden ladder leading up into the attic.

"Okay," Siesta began quickly as she mounted the ladder. "Wait down here. Try and keep the house clear."

Louise nodded, keeping her weapon trained on the door. It didn't take long for her to hear shoes thumping against the wood flooring, slowly coming closer. A zombie shambled in front of the door, seemingly taking no notice of Louise. The pinkette fired anyway, her volley of buckshot blowing straight through the side of the zombie's head.

"God…" Louise breathed shakily, breaking open the shotgun to reload. In her mind, it wasn't right to have to shoot these people. It wasn't their fault they had become like this, but if she didn't kill them, they were going to kill her. She prayed that both God and the Founder would forgive her.

Worryingly, the gunfire outside came to a stop. Louise began to panic, wondering if the dogs had won and were now coming for her, or if the zombies had won and were now coming for her. At the same time, Siesta came flying down the ladder, skipping the last few rungs and jumping to the floor. She quickly brushed past Louise.

"Come on! Let's get the hell out of here!" Siesta yelled, making for the exit as fast as her legs could carry her. Louise had no objections, following closely behind. She was relieved that no zombies seemed inclined to shoot in their direction. She hoped they hadn't noticed them leaving.

They swiftly exited the compound through a section of missing fence near the red brick building. They didn't stop and Louise refused to look back, fearing that if she did she would see a hoard of zombies chasing after them. After a few minutes of solid running through the trees, Louise couldn't take any more.

"Si… esta…" Louise breathed, clumsily slowing her pace. "I can't… I have to stop."

Siesta stopped as requested, barely showing any signs of fatigue, while the pinkette collapsed to her knees completely out of breath. Quickly eyeing their lightly wooded surroundings, Siesta was content that there was no immediate danger. The zombies didn't seem to be following, and even if they were, they would take quite a while to catch up. She kept her guard up regardless.

"Hey," Siesta began, looking down at the huffing girl. "Are you alright?"

"No!" Louise barked, throwing her shotgun into a nearby tree. Siesta winced, fearing the double-barreled weapon might have gone off from the impact. The pinkette sent a fierce glare towards Siesta. "No I am not bloody alright! Don't you understand? I _killed _people! I… I…" Louise's voice wavered, her tone quickly changing. She looked away. "I killed people…" She moved to sit on her bottom, bringing her knees up to her chest.

Siesta sighed, leaning against a nearby tree and crossing her arms. "You know I understand."

"I… I know, it's just…" Louise paused, wiping at her eyes. "I know they w-were zombies but, God… their faces. I didn't want to kill them. I really didn't."

Giving the pinkette a sympathetic look, Siesta pushed off from the tree and moved to stand in front of Louise. Before she could speak, Louise spoke again with her face buried in her arms.

"This is it now, isn't it? This is my life now, whether I like it or not, right?"

"You'll get used to it."

Louise looked up, flabbergasted. "How could I possibly get used to this?"

"I thought that before," Siesta replied, a reassuring smile spreading across her face. She extended a hand for Louise to take. "But you will get used to it. A lot faster than you think."

After a moment of hesitation, Louise wiped her eyes once more and accepted the hand, finding surprising strength in it as she was helped to her feet. Siesta picked up the shotgun Louise had tossed, handing it back to the pinkette who reluctantly accepted.

"So you're okay?" Siesta asked.

"Yeah," Louise muttered weakly, although she felt the farthest from okay than she had in a long time. "Please tell me you found those tools. If I went through that for nothing then I swear to the Founder I'll-"

Siesta held up a hand to silence the girl. "Don't worry. My backpack weighs a ton now. Cardan's gonna be pretty happy."

"That's great for him," Louise muttered. "Can we go back to the ship, please? I'd like to sit down for a while and not worry about being eaten or shot."

Smirking, Siesta motioned for Louise to follow with a flick of her head. "C'mon then. Let's find the road."

Louise nodded, following behind the stalker with only one thought ringing through her head.

_I want to go home._

…

Cardan nodded in satisfaction, seeing all the tools laid out before him on his workbench. Siesta and Louise had made it back to the Skadovsk in good time, a small pack of frightened fleshes and a few stray dogs being their only opposition. They had been quickly dealt with.

"This is great. I can't believe that guy had actually found those tools. I can understand why he didn't try and get them though," Cardan said, puffing on a cigarette. He glanced to his side, seeing Siesta simply standing with her arms crossed as if everything was business as usual, while her small pink-haired companion looked like she needed a good sleep, and a stiff drink, in his opinion, at least. "You're crazy for going in there with a shitload of zombies. You're even crazier for dragging that little girl with you."

Siesta shrugged. She doubted that those zombies had been in the Sawmill when Magpie had said he was going to get the tools. Somebody would have taken notice long ago if that were the case. She felt that the zombies were a recent, and unfortunate, addition. "What's done is done."

"Right," Cardan sighed. "I suppose. You at least told Beard, hey?"

"Of course," Siesta nodded.

"That's good, at least now the stalkers can be made aware," Cardan grunted, reaching into his coat and counting out a few hundred Rubles. He handed them to Siesta. "Here, for your trouble. And," Cardan turned back to the table, picking up a gun that Siesta hadn't noticed during her first visit. "Some stalker brought this in for spare parts, but with the amount of parts I have lying around here, I got it working again no problem while you were gone. Take it."

Siesta gawked, accepting the weapon. It was an AKS-74U if she wasn't mistaken, a short barreled version of the AK-74, with a folding skeleton stock. It looked a little weathered, no doubt having seen its fair share of fights. While some stalkers might scoff at being given a weapon that appeared to be in such a condition, Siesta knew better. She was always grateful to receive anything in the Zone.

She quickly thanked Cardan a multitude of times before dragging Louise out of the workshop. She had an idea.

* * *

Simply put, Louise was quite blown away.

After watching Siesta empty an entire thirty-round magazine out of the AK in full automatic fire, Louise decided that weapons like these shouldn't exist. Having such an efficient way to kill was ridiculous. Imagining an entire army deploying weapons like these certainly put some fear in her. An army with weapons like these could destroy her own country's army with disturbing ease.

"That was awesome!" Siesta remarked excitedly, bouncing on her heels. They had returned to the same place they'd been in the morning. Although they'd moved quite a bit closer to the piece of steel, and now had a new weapon to send lead at it with. "I should have got one of these sooner."

"I don't think you hit the plate. Not even once," Louise commented, arms crossed.

Siesta made a raspberry noise, removing the AK's empty magazine and locking in a new one. "I wasn't trying to hit it. I just wanted to spray bullets everywhere."

Louise scoffed. "Well if that was truly your intention, then bravo, you've had a great success."

Rolling her eyes, Siesta turned to glare at the pinkette. "I know you're pretty upset over what happened at the Sawmill, but get over it. You should expect shit worse than that in the days to come."

"Whatever," Louise growled, looking away.

"Now here," Siesta said, holding out the short-barreled AK for Louise to take. "Give it a try."

"W-what?" Louise asked, raising an eyebrow. "No, I don't want to try it. It's ridiculous. It has never been and never will be necessary to shoot that many times that quickly. It's stupid. Whose idea was it to make guns do that anyway? Stupid."

"Oh come on," Siesta whined in a childish tone, a smirk spreading across her face. "Stupid can be fun, sometimes."

After a few moments of contemplation, and growing tired of the expression Siesta wore on her face, Louise decided to just give in. "Fine then. Give it here."

Taking the AK in her hands, Louise pulled the charging handle completely to the rear and let it fly forward as she had seen Siesta do. Already, Louise had to admit something to herself.

Chambering the weapon like that, felt kind of… good?

She shook her head, mentally berating herself. Guns were stupid, dirty, and awful things that caused only pain and suffering. They represented death in every aspect of their existence, and she was ashamed to have to even carry one to defend herself.

She lined up the sights on the steel plate and depressed the trigger. She was shocked as the gun began to let loose. So shocked in fact, she only realized that she had forget to let off the trigger until after all thirty rounds had been fired. She was even more shocked to find herself wearing a small and stupid grin. Firing this weapon for herself had been a much more staggering experience than she had anticipated. She quickly suppressed the tugging at the ends of her mouth, hoping Siesta hadn't seen it.

She had.

Laughing loudly, Siesta clamped a hand down on the pinkette's shoulder. "You totally thought that was awesome, didn't you?"

Louise sighed, removing the empty magazine. "I'll never say it again as long as I live, but yes, I did."

"Also, you missed the plate."

"I've gathered that much, thanks," Louise shot back, glaring. She handed Siesta the empty magazine, and to her surprise, she was presented with a full one.

"Try it again, this time on semi-automatic," Siesta suggested. She quickly instructed Louise on how to shift the weapon from fully, to semi-automatic fire.

Firing the weapon like this, one bullet for every pull of the trigger, Louise found it was much easier to control the weapon, she could actually hit what she was aiming at. Their proximity to the steel allowed her to hit it with nearly every round in the magazine. Removing the empty magazine, Louise groaned as she was again presented with another one.

"Siesta, I'm not shooting another one. Don't you think it's kind of a waste? How much money do you even have left? All of these bullets cannot be cheap."

Siesta smirked. "I was actually gonna ask you to not shoot that one. Don't worry about my money either. I've got enough for whatever we need. From now on we'll split everything we make, starting with that." Louise was surprised as the stalker pointed to the AK.

"Split this? How are we going to split your gun?" Louise asked, confused.

"It's _our_ gun," Siesta corrected, drawing another confused look from the pinkette. "We both went into the Sawmill, so it belongs to both of us. Hold onto it. Kind of suits you, actually. I don't want to carry my rifle and that at the same time anyway, too much weight."

"I suppose that makes sense," Louise said, nodding. "But how am I supposed to carry this and the shotgun as well?"

Siesta bit her lip in thought. "We'll figure something out. We can probably go back to Owl and see what he's got."

Louise made a noise of disgust. "That man is…" The pinkette trailed off, moving to look around Siesta. "There's somebody…"

Before Louise could finish Siesta had whirled around, her hand ready to draw her pistol at a moment's notice. Laying eyes on the person approaching, she relaxed only slightly, still keeping her guard up. She didn't recognize the man, but his sunrise suit covered by a long coat spelled typical stalker garb. He had short brown hair and sharp eyes, and didn't seem to be that old.

Louise moved to stand next to Siesta, cradling her assault rifle. She didn't have much interest in the approaching stalker, but she did note that he was carrying an AK very similar to the one she was holding.

"Hello," the approaching stalker greeted jovially. "Doing some shooting?"

"Yes," Siesta replied in Ukrainian, reaching over to Louise and ruffling her hair. "Just teaching my rookie."

Louise smacked the ex-maid's hand away, glaring. She wasn't sure what Siesta had said, but she had a vague idea. She wondered why everybody couldn't just speak Tristainian. It would be much simpler and she'd actually be able to understand somebody other than Siesta. She always thought having so many different languages was idiotic. There should just be one language for everyone to speak. "Never do that again."

Siesta only laughed in response, turning back to the nameless stalker to see him eyeing them both curiously. She realized that between her accent and Louise's hair color, they must certainly seem to be an odd pair.

"I see," the other stalker replied slowly, nodding. "Are there any camps around here? I'd like a place to rest and check my gear."

"Sure," Siesta nodded. "We were about to head back. You can come with us?" The native Tristainian tried her best not to trip over any words. She quickly realized that was the longest string of Ukrainian she had spoken since leaving the outer regions of the Zone, during her days of working for Sidorovich.

"That would be great actually, thanks."

"Alright," Siesta said, retrieving her Mosin which stood against a nearby tree. She gestured to herself by placing a hand on her chest. "I'm Siesta." She motioned to Louise with a flick of her head. "That's Louise. She doesn't speak Ukrainian."

The stalker ahh'd in understanding before introducing himself with a smile. "My name is Alexander."

* * *

_A/N: There we have it, the introduction of Alexander Degtyarev, the protagonist of Call of Pripyat. His role will be minimal in this part of the story, but he will likely make a return later. Not much to say about this chapter, Louise is becoming more of a stalker, but she's only early on in her career yet._

_Also, longest chapter thus far._


	6. Humble Beginnings VI

_Humble Beginnings VI_

_Zaton_

_18:30_

It had been four full days since Louise's arrival in the Zone, and she found herself slowly adjusting to the life of a stalker. Suffice it to say, her new life was far from glamorous. Currently, she sat across from Siesta in the bowels of the Skadovsk, half-heartedly nibbling on some bread while the stalker talked. The young mage was quickly coming to realize that Siesta was the kind of person that could talk about anything for hours on end.

The fact that the ex-maid hadn't been able to have a full-on conversation with anybody in such a long time had probably temporarily turned her into a chatterbox.

"And when he woke up," Siesta was saying. "He couldn't remember anything at all."

"Nothing?" Louise asked, only semi-interested.

"Nope," Siesta took a swig from a can of soda she had been drinking. "All he knew was that he had to kill some guy named Strelok."

After a moment of silence, Louise decided to ask. "Did he?"

Siesta shrugged. "No idea. He did some work for Sidorovich and then I never saw him again."

Louise leaned back in her chair with a sigh. Over the course of the last few days she had heard more than a few stories from the stalker sitting across from her, and she was fairly sure there were enough of them to fill a small book. The pinkette was never big on storytelling, mostly because she and her elder sisters had been forced to endure countless stories from her Father, most of which revolved around hunting or politics.

He had never said it outright, but she knew her Father had always wanted a son.

Her Mother, on the other hand, tended not to tell stories of her time served with the Mage Knights or the Manticore Corps. At least some of the stories Siesta were telling helped her to gain some insight on the Zone, which was something she could put into practice. She just wished Siesta would tell more stories of things that didn't involve getting extremely intoxicated or smoking marijuana, or of strange men with amnesia, for that matter.

Thinking of her parents, she wondered what they were doing right now. Surely the news must have reached them by this time. Did they think she was dead? She had come to the conclusion that it was probably better if they did, that way they could simply move on with their lives, instead of aimlessly searching for her when she wasn't even in the same reality as them. Despite this, she still feared how her sister Cattleya would react to the news. They had been quite close.

She had already decided that she would try to find a way back. The only problem was that she simply had no idea where to begin. It would have to wait, there were other things to worry about right now.

Like not being shot, for example.

She was dreading it, and knew it would happen at some point. In a place where so many bullets were flying around it was bound to happen eventually, and she hoped it was going to be later rather than sooner. If it meant that she would never be shot, she would spend an entire day submerged in a tub full of insects.

She laid her hands in her lap and sighed rigidly.

"Loosen up a little kiddo, relax," Siesta said, shuffling her chair backward so she could put her feet up on the table. "You can't have any fun if you're being so uptight all of the time."

Louise was silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating what Siesta had said. At least until she opened her mouth. "Take your feet off the table. It's horrid."

"See? This is what I'm talking about," Siesta groaned, her feet coming off the table so she could lean forward. "Nobody in this room cares that I've had my feet on the table. There's nobody here to impress, Louise."

"It's not about impressing anybody," Louise shot back. Siesta was quickly beginning to remind her of Kirche von Zerbst with her laid back and teasing attitude. She even played the part of having two oversized udders hanging from her chest, something that Louise noted with distain, and a hint of jealousy. One of her hands subconsciously went to scratch at her own chest, reminding her of the nothingness that dominated it.

_Flat._

Shaking her head of the thought, Louise decided that it shouldn't matter anymore. There were other, more important, things to focus on. While she was sure that the teasing that had come from Kirche had malicious intent, she knew that Siesta meant no harm when she decided to tease. It was like the ex-maid had said; she only wanted Louise to loosen up a little.

Louise groaned as she laid her head on the table in her arms, realizing Siesta wasn't going to respond since she had seemed to take more interest in her drink. "I hate this. We've been in this ship for hours now. It smells in here."

"You'll learn to cherish the times when you're bored," Siesta scoffed, squeezing the empty can and slamming it down on the table. "Would you rather go anomaly diving or something?"

The pinkette peeked up at the girl across from her, rolling her eyes when she saw the state of the soda can. "Which one do you propose?"

Letting out a short laugh, Siesta had gotten an answer she hadn't expected. "How about… the Burnt Farmstead? I don't wanna go too far from the Skadovsk since there hasn't been an emission today."

Louise sighed. "The warm one? Disgusting."

"Well we could go to the Boiler," Siesta offered, smirking.

"No, thank you," Louise groaned, stretching her arms. "I believe that one is about a million times worse."

"All right!" Siesta exclaimed enthusiastically, standing up abruptly and grabbing her rifle from against the wall. Louise shook her head at the stalker's display, noticing many stares coming towards them. "Grab your stuff!"

Louise quickly grabbed her shotgun, slinging it across her back with an old sling that they had paid Cardan to install. A shotgun on her back, an assault rifle in her hands, a pistol on her side and the ammunition to run all three certainly made for a noticeable amount weight, but she gladly carried it all. Not only because they made her feel a little safer, but also because Siesta's backpack looked like it was _so_ much heavier. She'd seen nearly every kind of… back-packable object removed from it over the last few days.

"We _are_ going to the Burnt Farmstead, right?" Louise asked as they made for the door. "Because I mean, if you're actually going to the Boiler, I'm staying in the ship."

Siesta only laughed in response.

* * *

_The Cordon_

_18:44_

Drifter strolled into the Rookie Village with fellow stalkers Awl and Tolik. They had spent the last twelve hours sitting on top of a hill observing the activity in the car park before being relieved by another group of stalkers. They were most definitely less than pleased with what they had seen. The area had become infested with snorks, the most snorks either of the three had ever seen in one place. There was easily a dozen crawling in and around the small walled in compound, which got the stalkers worrying.

Snorks were feral creatures, and also one of the more infamous beings to populate the Zone. Extended exposure to radiation and anomalies has destroyed the mind and twisted the body of a human, creating an extremely dangerous predator with a distinct appearance. Their bodies are covered with lesions and open wounds, the most notable being their exposed spine. They still wear the tattered clothes of their human counterparts, usually the uniform of a soldier but occasionally one can be found wearing a bandit's trench coat or a stalker's sunrise suit.

Interestingly, they have always been seen wearing gas masks, with the filter hose darting about to sniff out potential prey. It was almost as if the mask had simply become a part of the snorks face. Only a few stalkers have dared to try and remove the mask after killing a snork, and they all carry the same message.

_Don't do it._

Despite their ragged appearance, the snork has very powerful muscles and quick reflexes. Forced to crawl on all fours, their spines are mutated to the point of being unable the support their full weight, however, they are able to achieve incredibly fast movement speeds, as well as performing long leaps with their powerful leg muscles and tendons.

While snorks did tend to stick together and form nests, the stalkers had to wonder why they'd chosen the car park as their new home. Their usual nests were in underground areas, such as caves or abandoned underground structures.

"So, you guys want to smoke a joint after?" Awl offered, resting an SKS rifle on his shoulder as they strolled through the village. "Watching snorks all day has got to be the worst shit."

"I'm in," Tolik quickly replied, letting his shotgun hang loosely in one hand. He turned to Drifter. "What about you, Drifter?"

"I think Awl has been spending far too much time in the Army Warehouses," Drifter replied, smirking at the stalker from behind the cloth that covered the lower portion of his face. "Why not just see Barkeep in Rostok anyway? It's closer."

Awl shrugged. "Freedom's got the good stuff. It's worth the extra walk. Besides, their company is much more pleasant that Duty's."

Tolik nodded in agreement as they came up on the fire in the center of the village. It seemed a group of stalkers were roasting a flesh. Tolik let out a visible shudder.

"What's wrong Tolik?" Hound asked with a touch of laughter in his voice, leaving the fire to greet the trio. "Not big on flesh?"

Tolik shrugged, slipping his balaclava off his head. "I can manage. As long as I don't picture its face while I'm eating it."

Hound glanced over his shoulder as a few stalkers around the fire chuckled at Tolik's comment. He quickly turned his sights on Drifter. "Drifter, Sidorovich said he wanted to see you earlier. I don't know if he still wants you now but, I guess you can check it out if you want."

Drifter gave Hound an odd look. "Did he say why he wanted to see me?"

Hound shook his head. "No, I heard it from Fanatic so I'm not sure why."

"Right, well I'll go see the old man then," Drifter said, flicking the selector lever of his AKM to safe before slinging it onto his back. He left the group and headed around the fire and down the road towards Sidorovich's bunker. Awl called out from behind him as he walked, causing him to stop and turn around.

"Drifter! Joint!"

Drifter thought for a moment before waving a hand dismissively. "Another time!" He saw Awl shrug and wander off with Tolik and Hound in tow before he turned around to walk again. While not against smoking such things, Drifter preferred to be alert and attentive most of the time.

He wondered if this had anything to do with the girl from a few nights ago. A few of the other rookies had seen her after she had just woken up, and apparently she only spoke French, which was a shame. The only other stalker he had ever known to speak French was Siesta, and she had left the Rookie Village long ago to parts unknown.

Speaking of Siesta, he had learned from Sidorovich that Siesta wasn't just another stalker as he had previously thought. The old man hadn't explained much, only that she had apparently arrived in the Zone in the same way that this blonde girl had. He had then promptly kicked Drifter out of his living space.

This was weird. Well, weirder than normal. It was the Zone, after all.

Sidorovich's bunker came into view quickly, and the stalker peeled back his hood and pulled down the cloth covering his face as he descended the stairs. The old man quickly came into view, and it seemed he wasn't tapping away at his computer like he usually was. He merely sat idle, leaning back in his chair with his hands resting on his stomach.

"Oh Drifter," Sidorovich began, quickly recognizing the stalker. "I don't need to see you anymore."

Shrugging, Drifter turned around without a word and made to head back up the stairs. He stopped however, when he heard Sidorovich speak again.

"Actually come back, I can think of a good use for you."

"Don't talk about me like I'm a pair of pliers," Drifter grunted, spinning around on a heel.

Sidorovich let out a gravelly laugh which ended with a few coughs. He reached for a pack of cigarettes on his desk, lighting one. To Drifter, it seemed a little counterproductive if he was coughing like that. "When are you going to watch the snorks again, and with who?"

"Tomorrow morning, with Awl and Tolik," Drifter stated, eyeing Sidorovich suspiciously. "Why?"

Sidorovich didn't respond, instead he opted to swivel his chair around and yell into the back of the bunker after exhaling a puff of smoke. "Monty! Come here!"

Drifter watched as the blonde girl came out from the back of the bunker, looking not at all pleased. Her cape had been removed, and now she wore a light grey fawn jacket instead, although her skirt still remained. Her blonde hair, which had been styled into ringlets, now hung straight with a touch of waviness to it.

Drifter snorted. "So her name is Monty? That's kind of weird."

"I'll have you know," the blonde snapped, surprising Drifter. "That my name is Montmorency." She glared down at the seated Sidorovich and repeated. "_Montmorency!_ Say it!"

Drifter looked from Montmorency, to Sidorovich, back to the blonde, to the old man again. "So she does speak Ukrainian? I heard some of the other stalkers saying she didn't."

Sidorovich shrugged, ignoring Montmorency's demand to say her name properly. "She didn't before, and she does now. I'm not even going to try and pretend I understand why."

Unbeknownst to either of the men, Montmorency had spent the first half a dozen hours after waking up in the Zone feverishly trying to remember the specifics of a spell that would grant her the knowledge of another language. The surprise on the old man's face when she suddenly started snapping at him in his own language was priceless.

"Anyway," Sidorovich continued. "I want you to take her with you when you go out watching the snorks again."

"What!?" Both Montmorency and Drifter exclaimed simultaneously, causing them to both share a glance before Montmorency continued. "Y-you want me to go up there? Outside? U-up those stairs!?"

"Yes," Sidorovich grunted, flicking some cigarette ash into a nearby ashtray. "You can't stay down in this fucking hole forever."

"Oh, but you can?"

"Yes, actually," Sidorovich grunted.

While Montmorency shot Sidorovich a piercing glare, Drifter raised an eyebrow. "What have you told her about outside to make her so scared?"

Montmorency's glare turned to train on the stalker, but Sidorovich spoke up first. "You know, how nowhere is safe and everything and everyone wants to kill you. Stuff like that."

Drifter looked to Montmorency for confirmation, whose glare faded as she sighed. "In a nutshell, yes."

The stalker shrugged. "Well, it's worse than that."

"That's not funny!"

Sidorovich laughed, which ended with another series of coughs and a few obscenities. "Anyway, take her with you when you go out, eh?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever man," Drifter replied, sounding unenthusiastic. "I'll train up your rookie. I'll come get her before we leave tomorrow morning."

"Good man! Now get out of here."

Waving dismissively, Drifter turned to leave before suddenly remembering something. "Oh right, you, Monty, whatever your name is."

"_Montmorency!_" The blonde growled.

"You might want to consider wearing pants."

* * *

"Here, catch!"

Louise yelped, seeing a fireball artifact coming towards her like a rock thrown through the air. She stumbled backward, landing on her bottom as she caught the spherical artifact in her arms.

"Honestly!?" Louise growled, seeing the stalker making her way through burner anomalies with a smirk on her face. "What if I had dropped that? Don't be so childish!"

"Relax!" Siesta replied in an annoying tone as she approached, doing little to douse the pinkette's anger. "Really though, if it had hit the ground I guess you'd have to… pick it up? Some artifacts can be pretty fragile but Fireball's aren't. I'm not going to throw something at you that could explode or melt your skin or something."

"Whatever," Louise spat, rising to her feet and depositing the Fireball into a canvas bag Siesta had given her. They had managed to find a few artifacts in the sizable burner field. "Are there any more around?"

"I'll check," Siesta said quickly, brandishing her detector and walking about the area with it held out in front of her. Louise watched with mild interest, swinging the bag of artifacts back and forth lightly. Siesta returned moments later. "Nah. Let's get out of here."

"Great. I've been sweating so much I feel like I'm floating in my shoes," Louise groaned, enticing a short laugh from her companion. Upon leaving the heat of the deadly field of anomalies, the pinkette stopped the ex-maid by holding out the bag of artifacts. "Hey. Can you hold this for a minute?"

"Why?"

"Well," Louise began, looking off to the side of the road. "That big rock over there is surrounded by trees and bushes and looks really nice right now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Siesta asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion. "You have to pee or something?"

Louise sighed. "Yes Siesta. I have to pee."

"Oh," Siesta shrugged, taking the bag from the pinkette's hands. "Well, go on."

Louise nodded, swiftly heading towards the rock. "And don't look over here!"

Siesta didn't respond as she turned to face away from the rock with a slight shake of her head. Deciding to keep occupied while Louise was doing her business, Siesta sunk her hand into the bag of artifacts and brought out the recently acquired Fireball. It had a smooth, glossy surface, and gave off quite a bit of heat that Siesta felt easily through her gloved hand.

Behind the rock, Louise sighed happily as she secured her belt around her waist. While she didn't thoroughly enjoy having to do her business in some bushes behind a rock, it would have to do. She turned to grab her AK, which she had leant against the rock, only to freeze when an ominous growl cut through the air. Listening, she could hear heavy breathing coming from nearby. She quickly grabbed up her AK, flicked the selector lever to automatic and held it at her waist.

The bushes in front of her were rustled by an unseen force, causing the pinkette to jump in fright. She began to back away, ready to release a burst of lead onto any horrid creature that would show its face. As she was taking steps backward, she noticed something disturbing. A shadow, roughly humanoid, was cast on the ground. However, there was no such figure to cast it. She looked up to where the figure would logically be standing and saw nothing, other than a cloud of breath that seemed to come from nowhere.

She swallowed. Something invisible was standing in front of her, she could feel it _staring_ at her, she was sure of it.

She tried to call out to Siesta, but her voice only came out as a pathetic squeak. She was absolutely petrified, a feeling which grew worse with every heavy breath that came out of whatever was in front of her.

Suddenly, it moved. She knew it moved, because as it came towards her it seemed to just melt into existence in front of her. There was only one word she could think of in her frightened state that could describe this creature.

Horrifying.

It was humanoid, in an incredibly broad sense of the word. Its skin was leathery and brown, and its limbs were disturbingly elongated with hands that ended in vicious looking claws that looked sharp enough to tear through flesh like it was paper. In Louise's mind, its face was something straight out of a nightmare; a gaping maw was surrounded by four tentacles which spread wide as it released a shrill cry, and was completed with two lambent eyes set into sunken eye sockets.

In her steadily increasing state of fear, Louise's body locked up and had become rooted to where she stood. It seemed that whatever this thing was, it was going to have its way with her. As it cocked an arm back and swept it forward, Louise's brain still had enough sense to tell her index finger to tighten on the AK's trigger.

The gun spat out a short burst, but Louise had no idea if she had hit the creature or not. The moment she had pulled the trigger the creature's hand had connected with her face, sending her to the ground with brutal force.

On her back she fired again into the air, only to hit nothing. The creature had vanished.

She laid on the ground with her AK pointed in the air, completely disoriented. The whole situation had probably only lasted about five seconds, but to her it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. She knew she should get on her feet, she knew she should run, but her body refused to obey her commands. She couldn't focus. Her head felt like it had just been smashed against a stone wall. She could hear footsteps approaching quickly, and hoped with all her heart that it was Siesta.

"What the fuck happened to your face!?" Siesta cried, nearing the pinkette with her Mosin ready. She reached down and grabbed Louise by her upper arm, helping her to her feet. She immediately felt much safer with Siesta around. "C'mon! Up!"

"Invisible!" Louise barked, shakily readying her weapon. "Oh God it was bloody invisible!"

The information took only milliseconds to process in Siesta's brain. "_Fuck_."

"Do you know what it is?" Louise asked quickly, wincing. The shock had begun to pass and the right side of her face throbbed painfully. She felt her stomach churn as the pain in her head grew worse. The urge to vomit had made itself known. "Founder, my face hurts. Does it look bad?"

"Let's get away from these trees and stuff," Siesta said, ignoring the pinkette's question. She pointed to the ground a few feet away, directing Louise's eyes to spy some spatters of blood on the ground. "Did you hit it?"

"I-I don't know," Louise strained out as she followed Siesta towards the road, weapon ready. She tenderly brought a hand up to her face, and quickly brought it away with a hiss of pain. She swallowed. Her hand was covered in blood. She saw that her coat was also dotted with blood that had dripped off of her jawline. "Siesta… is it bad? My face? It really hurts."

"I won't lie, you're bleeding a lot," Siesta admitted as they reached the road and stopped. She scanned the area with her rifle ready, while Louise copied her moves. "But you'll live. You seriously have no idea how lucky you – _there_!"

Louise jumped as Siesta fired, quickly whirling around to aim. Siesta's shot had torn through the creature's stomach above a set of gunshot wounds Louise had already given it. The shock of having a bullet pass through its body caused the creature to become visible, however despite being shot, it still charged towards them with a shriek of anger and pain.

Louise released a torrent of lead from her short-barreled AK along with a yell comprised of a mix of fright and anger, sending the creature tumbling to the ground face first. She kept the weapon firing as it fell, stopping only when her magazine had ran dry. They both stared at it for a few moments as it lay motionless on the ground.

"Is… it dead?" Louise tenderly asked. The pinkette jumped again as Siesta opted to send another bullet down the barrel of her Mosin and into the creature's head.

"Dead now," Siesta remarked as she shrugged her backpack off and tore it open. She extracted what seemed to be a handful of white pieces of cloth. She quickly approached Louise, pressing the cloth strips against her face which resulted in a shriek of pain. "Just hold that on your face until we get to the Skadovsk."

"You'd make a horrible doctor," Louise groaned, doing as she was told. "What in the Founder's name was that thing?"

"Bloodsucker," Siesta replied simply, quickly throwing her backpack on and topping off her rifle. She grabbed up the canvas bag of artifacts that she must have simply dropped on the ground earlier, and slung it over her shoulder. "The name pretty much says it all."

Louise sighed, following behind the stalker as she started off down the road. "It doesn't quite explain how it was invisible – _God_ it hurts!" Tears of pain quickly began to well up in her eyes.

"Well I can't explain that," Siesta threw a glance at the girl behind her, finding that blood was already soaking through the cloth. She frowned. "You're actually so lucky right now, you have no idea."

"How exactly is this lucky?" Louise growled, keeping the bundle of cloth pressed against her face. She absolutely did not want to look in a mirror right now. She could now easily feel three gashes across her right cheek, pulsing painfully with each beat of her heart. One was dangerously close to her eye, flaring in hot pain every time she blinked. "I've had half of _my_ face torn off by something that has the face of a squid!"

Siesta laughed, doing little to make Louise feel any better. "That was a good one. Squid face, I'll remember that. But seriously." Siesta turned around, walking backwards in front of Louise. "Lucky as all hell, you are. I've seen one of those tear a man's head right off his shoulders without even trying. You must have ruined its attack by shooting it."

"It still gave me quite a wallop, you know."

"That it did. If it knocked you out you'd have been done for," Siesta remarked, turning to walk properly. "Now let's get you back to the Skadovsk. Tremor will fix you right up."

"Fix me? My face has been – _ow! _– destroyed beyond repair! How am I going to live with this? I'll have scars – _ugh!_ - for the rest of my life!"

Siesta rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, it's seriously not that bad. Have you never had a cut and a smack before? Besides, some people think scars are attractive. I know I do!"

"You're not helping!"

* * *

Hours later, in the bowls of the Skadovsk, Louise sat in her usual place across from Siesta. The majority of the right side of her face was covered in bandages, not-so tenderly applied by Tremor. The rest of her face was covered in a dark scowl, directed down at the wooden surface of the table.

Siesta sighed, feeling that the silence between them had become annoying. "You want a drink or something?"

"Not really," Louise growled quietly. Her eyes did not leave the table, nor did her mouth move quite as much as it would normally.

"There's no reason for you to get all bent out of shape," Siesta chided, leaning forward. "If were you I'd be celebrating having been within three feet of one of those things and still being alive. Bloodsuckers are nasty things."

"It's not that," Louise sighed, wincing as she spoke. "As far as I'm concerned that _thing_ and myself are even. It hit me across the face, so I shot it – a lot. What I'm 'bent out of shape' about is that man who's calling himself a doctor."

Siesta threw her head back in a short laugh. "Tremor? Don't tell me _he's _gotten to you. I know he's a bit of an asshole, but he knows what he's doing."

"That may be," Louise growled, balling her tiny hands into fists. "But he was very rough with my destroyed face, and I… I don't appreciate it!" This got another laugh out of Siesta. "Stop laughing! You said he was going to give me something for the pain, and he did no such thing!"

Siesta continued to laugh for a few moments while the fuming pinkette opted to simply cross her arms and look away.

"Seriously," Siesta began, still chuckling. "You've gotta lose that attitude of yours."

"My attitude?" Louise asked in disbelief. "_My _attitude is perfectly fine! It's great! Nothing wrong with it! Yours on the other hand…"

Siesta huffed, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "Alright, what's wrong with my attitude then?"

Louise opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again for a moment. Then she sighed and averted her eyes away from the girl across the table. "Well, you're not selfish or inconsiderate or anything… I-I'm sure that without your help I'd have been killed already, a-and you've been teaching me things that are useful a-a-and I… well, um…"

"How touching. Right in my feelings," Siesta remarked dryly, placing a hand over her heart.

Louise glared. "Shut up! You're also rude, you swear far too much, you don't even attempt to be discreet about your belching or… f-f-f-flatulence, and - you keep doing _that_!" Louise pointed with disgust at what Siesta had begun doing. "Stop picking your bloody nose!"

Siesta pulled her finger from her nose and made a flicking motion towards Louise, who promptly leapt from her chair and out of the way. "I'll do what I want with my nose and my finger, thanks."

"You just flicked that at me!" Louise growled, her hand flying up to her face with a wince as pain shot through her cheek. "Disgusting! Pig!"

Siesta rolled her eyes, glancing around to find that nobody really seemed to be taking notice of their exchange. This time in the evening was when the Skadovsk was most lively anyway, so they went mostly unnoticed. "I didn't actually flick anything, chill out. You sure you don't want a drink? I can get you something that'll definitely help with the pain since its making you so grouchy."

Louise sighed, hesitantly returning to her seat. "If you say so, then I'll have it."

"Great!" Siesta chirped, practically flying out of her seat and across the room. It didn't take her long to return with two glasses of clear liquid.

"This is what you drink sometimes, isn't it?" Louise asked, receiving a nod from the stalker. She furrowed her brow in confusion. "What is it? I thought it was just water."

A sly smile spread across the stalker's face. "No, it's good. Try it."

Louise shrugged, sipping on the liquid only to spit it out instantly. "Disgusting! Are you trying to poison me!? What is this!?"

Siesta hooted with laughter. "It's vodka!"

"What?"

"Alcohol!"

"Surely you're joking," Louise groaned, quickly coming to a realization. "So you've been drunk this entire time? Brilliant."

Siesta quickly stopped laughing and held up a finger. "I am not drunk, nor have I recently been drunk."

Louise disregarded Siesta's state of sobriety for the time being. "Well, I suppose alcohol would help dull the pain, even if it is rather..."

"Exactly!" Siesta interrupted, taking a generous swig from her own glass. Louise rolled her eyes and took a tender sip, forcing the liquid down her throat. To say that it wasn't as nice as wine was a gross understatement. She prayed that it would help, even if it were only a little.

The next few moments passed quickly as Louise timidly sipped on the vodka. Thus far, it didn't seem to be helping the pain at all and only succeeded in leaving a horrid taste in her mouth. She looked up from her glass when she noticed somebody standing behind Siesta, directing a curious stare at her bandaged face. She recognized him, vaguely. Was he the man they'd met in the woods a couple of days ago?

"Siesta," Alexander began. "What happened to your little friend's face?"

Siesta laughed, receiving a glare from the pinkette. Louise couldn't understand their conversation, but she had a feeling it was about her face.

"She got attacked by a Bloodsucker when she was peeing in a bush," Siesta explained, smirking across the table. She then glanced up at the man standing over her. "And that's all she escaped with. Lucky girl, huh?"

Alexander nodded in agreement. "Very lucky. Anyway, I came to ask you something."

"You just did though."

"Funny," Alexander said with a small smile, seeing the cheeky smirk on Siesta's face. "But really, Grouse and I were wondering if you were interested in some work."

"Work?" Siesta asked, her interest piqued. "What kind?"

"It's about the Bloodsuckers."

* * *

_A/N: Stay tuned for chapter seven, in which Louise and Siesta investigate the Bloodsucker situation with Grouse and Alexander, and other things happen._


	7. Humble Beginnings VII

_Humble Beginnings VII_

_Zaton_

_07:21_

A brisk morning breeze swept through Louise's hair as she stood on what little remained of the Skadovsk's deck. She leaned on the railing, her cheek resting on one hand while the other played with the end of her ponytail. She gazed to the north, paying rapt attention to the sky. An emission had ended not long ago and Louise was enthralled by what it had left behind.

Ribbons of red and orange extended from beyond the horizon to the north, stretching nearly all the way across the sky. They cast an eerie glow amongst the emission's fading clouds, resulting in a sky Louise could have never imagined in a million years. She had been told by Siesta that it was just an aurora, left in the wake of the emission's energy.

Even if it was 'just' an aurora, it was one of the most hauntingly beautiful things Louise had ever seen - it was even more staggering at night. Most people would probably look at such a sky with fear, but for some reason when she saw this sky it made her feel at peace. She wished she was a competent artist because she would definitely paint this scene, although it might be a touch pointless. It's not like she could show it to anybody who cared.

She noticed she wasn't the only one on deck as she glanced at a hooded stalker who was puffing away on a cigarette. She didn't know his name, and couldn't very well find out anyway due to the language barrier. He didn't even seem to care about her presence anyway.

She pushed off of the railing. The aurora was beginning to fade into daylight as the clouds dispersed. If it were night, this would have been the best part. The color of the aurora against a clear night sky was a breathtaking sight. At least, she thought so.

Louise decided that it was best if she head back inside the ship. Today was going to be busy.

…

"Alright," Grouse stopped, turning to face the small group that consisted of Siesta, Louise, and Alexander. "Down that road is the Antenna Complex," he pointed, drawing the group's eyes. The flat building was visible through the trees, its perimeter surrounded by tall metallic structures that were topped with antennas. Louise recognized it, having noticed the building when Siesta had taken her to the Oakpine anomaly for the first time.

Grouse continued. "And if we continue up the road, we'll reach the old Gas Station. Danila was sent out by Gonta to check out the Oakpine area for any signs of the rumored Bloodsucker lair. That was three days ago, and he hasn't been seen or heard of since." Grouse turned to Siesta. "You should take Louise, since you're the only one who can talk to her. Check out the Gas Station and move down to the Oakpine. Alexander and I will start at the Antenna Complex and we'll work our way up. Sound good?"

Siesta and Alexander both nodded, while Louise was lost on the conversation. She impatiently wanted Siesta to clue her in on what was happening, but Grouse continued speaking.

"Be careful around the Gas Station. That's bordering on bandit territory, and those assholes are the last thing we need to deal with right now."

Alexander removed a small hand radio from his vest, flicking it on. "You've got a radio, right?"

Siesta nodded again, reaching back and taking it from a pouch on the side of her backpack. They briefly set their radios to the same frequency and did a quick check. Alexander and Grouse swiftly split off from the group, with the latter calling out that they would be in contact if they found anything. Siesta motioned for Louise to follow.

"Wait, where are they going?" Louise asked, pointing. "What's going on?"

Siesta sighed, remembering that Louise couldn't understand any of the conversation that was just had. She quickly paraphrased what Grouse had said, causing Louise to stop in her tracks.

"What?" Siesta asked, glancing over her shoulder at the pinkette.

"B-bandits?" Louise stammered, clutching her AK nervously. "Are you sure that's a good idea, to go so close to their territory?"

Siesta bit her lip and continued walking. "Relax, alright? We're only going to poke around the Gas Station real quick to see if Danila's body is there."

Louise frowned. "Don't you think that's a rather grim way to talk about it? Saying we're only looking for his body. What if he's still alive?"

"Don't count on it," Siesta grunted.

They continued up the winding road in silence, their destination coming into view quickly. Louise eyed it and decided that this 'Gas Station' was a complete mess. All of the windows in the small building were broken, an old jeep still remained under the canopy next to a fuel pump, and worryingly, the ground around the area was dramatically split open. In some areas it was only a few feet wide, but in others it seemed to be nearly ten meters across. Louise peered over the edge, and quickly stepped back with her eyes wide.

If the chasm had a bottom to it, Louise definitely couldn't see it.

"This place is a mess," Louise commented distastefully, voicing her previous thoughts. She followed Siesta over the only section of solid ground that seemed to be connecting the Gas Station to the rest of Zaton, and immediately felt awkward. The entire area was listing slightly, and was something that was once noticed, could not be unnoticed.

Siesta nodded in agreement and walked over to the dilapidated jeep, an old UAZ to be exact. She delivered a light kick to the driver's side wheel – which was flat – and peered inside the cabin.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Louise began, approaching Siesta from behind. "Actually I've been meaning to ask you a million different things, but since we're here. " Louise pointed to the jeep. "I've been seeing things like these here and there, what are they?"

"Oh these are cars," Siesta explained, flapping a hand as if were no big deal. "They're like carriages, only they don't need horses to move around."

"What?" Louise narrowed her eyes in confusion. "No horses? How do they move then? Magic? No, impossible."

"Oh it's most definitely possible," Siesta retorted, moving to slap a hand down on the rusted bonnet. "There's a thing in here called an engine, it… well I can't explain how it works exactly, but it makes power which turns the wheels."

"En-jin?" Louise pronounced, bending down to stare through the radiator grill. She shook her head. "I don't believe you. If it's true then make it move."

Siesta shot the pinkette a flat look. "There's no way this one works, just look at it."

"Well then you've got no proof, so I don't believe you."

"Hey! I've _seen_ one being driven, in fact," Siesta puffed out her chest proudly in a dramatic gesture. "I've driven one!"

Louise was silent for a moment, eyeing the ex-maid flatly. "You're a liar, Siesta."

"I'm not a liar!" Siesta protested, pouting childishly. "It was back when Freedom had their base in the Dark Valley, Wolf and I were…"

"Wait, wait," Louise cut in, holding up a hand to stop Siesta. "Who had what where?"

Siesta quickly waved her off. "Never mind. Anyway…"

Louise sighed, resigning herself to listen to what ever strange story Siesta was going to spout. Once the stalker started, she couldn't be stopped.

Siesta continued, heading towards the Gas Station building. "I was with another stalker called Wolf, and we were up in the Dark Valley doing some work for Freedom. They had an old car like that one that still worked – for the most part at least. They were doing some trading with the scientists out in Yantar; they wanted a shitload of canned beans delivered out there. It was way too much to carry by hand, so they paid us to drive it over there."

They entered the building. Siesta drew her sidearm and Louise held her AK tightly, ready for anything to jump at them.

"Right," Louise breathed skeptically. "So if these people needed the canned beans to be there, why didn't they just do it themselves?"

"Well because it's super dangerous, obviously," Siesta replied, sweeping into the next room. The building appeared to be empty. "Freedom doesn't want to put their own guys in danger for some canned beans, so they contract stuff like that out to regular stalkers like us. They pay pretty good too."

"So… what exactly does this have to do with you driving a car?"

"Well Wolf taught me how to drive it. It was _awesome_!" Siesta exclaimed, grinning wide.

They exited the building through a rear entrance, finding only sections of collapsed chain link fence, and more deep chasms in the ground.

"Well I'm sure you had a wonderful time," Louise remarked, holding her AK loosely. "If I ever see one of these moving someday, I think I might believe you."

"Forget you," Siesta scoffed, shooting the pinkette a glare. "Anyway there's nothing here, just some holes in the ground and some garbage."

Louise sighed. "To the Oakpine then?"

"To the Oakpine!" Siesta exclaimed with sudden enthusiasm. She took off at a brisk place.

Louise rolled her eyes, following after the stalker. Siesta certainly had energy, especially early in the morning. She had noticed that Siesta always slept through the entire night, not even waking up when violent emissions swept across the Zone.

They cut directly through the woods, weaving through trees and brush until the twisted Oakpine anomaly came into view.

"Just look around," Siesta said, making a sweeping gesture with her arm as they approached. "See if you can find anything."

"What exactly am I looking for?"

"I told you, Danila's dead body! Or, what's left of it."

"I wish you wouldn't say things like that," Louise sighed, splitting off from Siesta. The two of them poked around the area, checking in bushes and around trees. It didn't take long for Louise to bump something with her foot between some bushes. She glanced down, immediately feeling her blood run cold.

It wasn't Danila's corpse. That she was sure of, unless Danila was actually a Bloodsucker and neglected to tell anybody.

"Oh god," Louise muttered, covering her nose with her sleeve. The Bloodsucker corpse reeked of decay, and was clearly riddled with bullet holes. "Siesta! I found something!"

Siesta rushed to Louise's position, her Mosin ready for action. Louise pointed down to the corpse with the barrel of her AK. The ex-maid let out a noise of disgust. "Gross."

"Do you think it was Danila that killed it?" Louise asked, eagerly stepping away from the body.

Siesta shrugged. "Hell if I know. Anybody could have shot this thing."

As if on cue, Siesta's radio buzzed to life, causing the two girls to jump slightly.

"_Siesta, do you copy?"_

Siesta fumbled at her radio for a moment. "Uh, yeah. Copy."

There was a moment of silence before the radio crackled to life again. _"Grouse and I found something at the Antenna Complex, meet us there."_

"Yeah, sure," Siesta responded, realizing moments later that something along the lines of 'roger that' would have been more appropriate. She shrugged. It's not like they were professionals or anything. She looked to Louise, whose mouth was agape.

"What?" Siesta asked.

"H-how!?" Louise sputtered, staring at the radio still held in Siesta's hand. "Was that Alexander? How… what is that?"

Siesta smirked. "It's a radio. They can be used for communicating with somebody over a distance. Why are you so surprised now? We did a radio check before we split up."

"Yes, but…" Louise paused, watching as Siesta put the radio away. "We were all there s-so it didn't occur to me… I didn't really know what you were doing… Founder that's amazing! He's all the way somewhere else, and you were talking to him like he was right here!"

Siesta shrugged. "Even if this is such a dreadful place, they've got some pretty amazing stuff."

Louise nodded eagerly in response. She wished she could see this world outside of the Zone. She was sure it was filled with wonderful machines and technology, and not dreadful bloodsucking creatures and mindless zombies with guns.

"Anyway," Siesta began, grinning in an over exaggerated manner. "To the Antenna Complex!"

Louise glared flatly, her previous shock and amazement quickly fading. "Is that going to become a thing?"

"I think so."

"Please," Louise sighed. "No."

"Oh," Siesta frowned. "Is it annoying?"

"Kind of. It's a bit stupid, actually."

"I see," Siesta nodded, looking a little downcast as she turned away. Louise knew better than to think she had actually hurt her feelings, she knew something was coming any second now.

Siesta suddenly thrust a finger enthusiastically into the air. "To the Antenna Complex!" She then promptly took off at a brisk jog.

Louise groaned, having expected as much. It was like following a child around, a very… well-armed and deadly child.

She knew now that Siesta wouldn't even slow down for her. She ran after the ex-maid, grumbling all the while. They reached the Antenna Complex quickly at their pace, finding Grouse and Alexander standing at the base of one of the antennas. Louise felt fairly winded as she slowed to a stop near the men. Siesta shot her a smirk, to which she glared.

"We saw two Bloodsuckers enter that building," Alexander explained, motioning to the Antenna Complex building with a flick of his head. "Could be their lair, but we aren't sure."

"Their lair?" Siesta asked in Ukrainian, furrowing her brow. She pointed. "In there?"

Grouse nodded, almost as if he were eager. "We're going to check it out. Coming?"

In Siesta's opinion, she didn't have a choice. "Of course I am."

As they started off towards the building, Siesta slung her Mosin onto her back and drew her Fort-12 pistol, Grouse brandished a pistol-gripped Remington 870, and Alexander readied his own AKS-74U. Siesta felt a tug on her sleeve and sighed. She'd done it again.

"What _is_ going on?" Louise growled. "I'd like to be filled in, you know."

"Grouse and Alexander think the Bloodsucker lair might be in this building, so we're going to check it out," Siesta explained in a hushed tone, her attitude turning serious. She saw Louise's eyes widen in fear. Siesta gave her a light smack on the arm. "C'mon, get your gun ready."

Louise shakily did so, taking the weapon off safe and slowly drawing back the AK's charging handle. She rode it forward, trying to make as little noise with the gun as possible. She realized that her own shotgun might work well in a close quarters situation, but she felt extremely uncomfortable with having only two shots before reloading. She let out a quiet and bitter chuckle.

Flintlocks seemed so useless now.

As they entered the building, Grouse activated a flashlight mounted to the magazine tube of his shotgun and Alexander did the same to a flashlight lashed to the forward grip of his AK. Louise knew she and Siesta were without such devices, and were going to have to rely on the men for their light.

At least, that's what Louise had thought until a cone of light sprung forth from Siesta's left hand. She must have had a small flashlight somewhere on her person. Louise heaved a sigh.

_She_ would have to rely on everyone else for their light.

From what she could see, the building was incredibly run down. Garbage littered the floors, paint peeled off the mouldy walls, and large electrical cabinets along with racks of computer equipment were left to collect dust. The computer racks lined the middle of the lengthy hallway they found themselves in, dividing the area into two lanes.

Louise frowned. Did everywhere in the Zone have to be so weird?

Siesta and Grouse headed up the group, while Louise and Alexander took up the rear. Siesta looked over her shoulder and noticed that Alexander moved differently from everyone else. While it was different, it was also quite familiar. It reminded her of how the military's soldiers moved around. She frowned. No encounters with the military were ever on friendly terms.

An empty soda can was knocked suddenly, rolling out from behind an electrical cabinet. Everyone stopped at the same time, their eyes drawn to the can. Although everyone had stopped, footsteps could still be heard around them. Bare feet slapping on the stone tiled flooring.

Suddenly, Alexander whipped around to the group's rear at the sound of a low growl. His flashlight cast a humanoid shadow on the floor. The cloaked Bloodsucker hissed at the sudden introduction of light to its retinas, darting past a rack of computer drives and out of sight.

"Get ready…" Grouse growled quietly.

Louise didn't understand the man, but from his tone she could guess at the subject. She froze, hearing the computer rack next to her groan under pressure as well as heavy breathing coming from above. The pinkette tenderly looked up into the darkness.

It seemed that in the dark, a Bloodsucker's lambent eyes were quite visible even if it were cloaked.

Letting out a cry of fear, Louise fired wildly at the eyes floating in the darkness. A Bloodsucker's angered cries of pain were barely audible as the AK chattered away. Louise hadn't realized how loud a gun would be inside a building. She also hadn't realized how being in a dark and enclosed space would affect the muzzle flash of her weapon. Bright fireballs spewed from the end of the barrel, burning at her eyes with each flash.

The computer rack toppled over backward as its thin metal structure finally gave way under the Bloodsucker's weight and feral cries of anguish could be heard. Flashlights revealed a gurgling Bloodsucker squirming on the floor, full of holes. A single blast from Grouse's shotgun ended its life.

They stared at the body for only a moment, because Siesta promptly spun around and fired her pistol. Her flashlight illuminated a Bloodsucker charging in for a kill. Her pistol's bullets tore into its chest but it still charged, ignoring the damage it was taking. Grouse's shotgun barked again, practically flooring the creature as the buckshot tore its head open.

Grouse topped of his shotgun's magazine tube. He glanced at Siesta, who was swapping magazines. "Tough bastards, huh?"

Siesta's only response was to shake her head in distaste. Louise breathed deeply, locking a full magazine into her AK.

"Well that was two," Alexander observed, still standing ready for anything.

"Let's keep looking around," Grouse said, taking the lead.

They completed a full lap of the building, only finding more electrical cabinets, computer racks, and a few ransacked offices behind shattered glass walls. There was no sign of Danila or any more Bloodsuckers on the ground floor. As they neared a set of stairs they had passed on their first time around, Alexander pointed.

"Are we going to check the basement?"

Grouse only nodded in response, leading the group down a wide set of stairs into the bowels of the building. The downstairs was a similar affair to the floor above, only there were more offices and it was much darker. Poking through the rooms yielded nothing more than trash.

Louise followed Siesta as she split off from the men, who were busy rummaging through an office. She approached a set of double doors that looked a little strange to Louise. There was no visible way for them to be opened by hand. Siesta placed a hand over the seam between the two doors, releasing a drawn out 'hmm'.

"What's with these doors, I don't see any…" Louise trailed off as Siesta suddenly darted away. "H-hey, what are you doing?"

"Just wait there!" Siesta called back, walking over to the other end of the room. From what Louise could see from the stalker's flashlight, she seemed to have approached one of the computer racks set against the wall, and was now fiddling with it. Suddenly, Siesta's flashlight fell to the floor, and the rack came crashing down. "Shit!"

"What the hell is going on out there?" Grouse called out, annoyance at the edges of his voice.

"It's fine!" Siesta shouted back, picking up her flashlight and approaching Louise.

"You're really something, you know that?" Louise commented dryly, covering her eyes with an annoyed click of her tongue as Siesta pointed the flashlight towards her face. "Why did you go over there and do that anyway?"

Siesta held up a narrow, flat piece of metal for Louise to see.

"And what purpose does that serve?" Louise asked impatiently.

Siesta shook her head and held out the flashlight towards the pinkette. "Just hold this okay? Give me some light too."

Louise held the flashlight and watched as Siesta wedged the flat piece of metal into the seam between the doors. "So, what is this thing anyway?"

"This is an elevator," Siesta grunted. She swore under her breath, seeing that she was making minimal progress.

"I actually meant what I'm holding in my hand, but that's interesting too."

Siesta let out an annoyed chuckle. "What would you call it?"

"I don't know. Maybe a… directional torch?"

Siesta stopped what she was doing, letting out a bout of laughter as she leaned onto the elevator doors. "You're not very creative, are you?"

Louise scowled. "I'll admit that creativity is not my strong suit."

"It's a flashlight you doorknob."

Louise didn't respond, aside from a small huff of annoyance. Siesta continued to work at the elevator doors, eventually creating enough space between them to fit her hands in. She promptly discarded her makeshift tool and began prying the doors apart with her hands. Louise leaned in and peered over her shoulder, pointing the flashlight up and down.

"What's that?" Louise pointed down, seeing what appeared to be a large metal box suspended by cables.

"That's the elevator."

"So what does an… elevator do?"

"It…" Siesta paused, thinking. "Well, it elevates."

Louise groaned, rolling her eyes as she spoke dryly. "Well said."

"It's weird though," Siesta began, taking the flashlight from Louise and highlighting various aspects of the elevator shaft. "Elevators are usually used as an alternative to stairs, obviously. The floor above us looks like it's the top of the shaft, and the actual elevator is sitting one floor below us." Siesta glanced at Louise. "Were these people really so lazy that they couldn't walk down a couple sets of stairs? Unless this place goes super deep into the ground."

"How should I know?"

Siesta huffed, shaking her head. Louise gave her a weird look as the ex-maid decided to pocket her flashlight.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

Louise didn't get an answer as Siesta had suddenly jumped into the elevator shaft, landing with a resonating thud on the roof of the elevator.

"Are you insane!?" Louise shrieked furiously into the dark elevator shaft. "Actually, don't even answer that. I already know the answer!"

Standing on the elevator, Siesta laughed heartily. Louise found her area illuminated once again as Alexander and Grouse approached.

"What's with all the yelling out here? And where has Siesta gone?" Grouse asked, receiving only a blank stare from Louise. He shook his head, remembering the little girl couldn't understand him. "Si-es-ta?"

Louise nodded in understanding, and pointed down into the elevator shaft.

Grouse narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I'm down here!" Siesta called out. Grouse moved to shine his light into the shaft, sighing as he spied Siesta standing atop the elevator, while Alexander let out a short laugh. Siesta gave the men a small wave. "'Sup?"

"How exactly did you plan on getting back up?" Alexander asked, smirking.

Siesta's face fell as waved her flashlight around in an attempt to find any way to climb up. A sheepish smile then grew across her face. "I didn't think about that!"

Grouse groaned while Alexander pinched the bridge of his nose. They watched as Siesta pried open the emergency hatch on the elevator's roof and dropped inside. They saw her face appear in the black square moments later.

"Come on! Oh, and don't look down!"

Grouse and Alexander shared a look before they both looked to Louise, who only looked horribly confused. Grouse shrugged.

"Fuck it."

Grouse sat on the floor, his legs dangling into the shaft. He eased himself off, keeping an iron grip on his shotgun as he hit the elevator hard. He shook off the impact and moved to drop into the elevator. He peered over the side of the elevator out of curiosity, pointing his shotgun down to illuminate the area.

He inhaled sharply. The elevator shaft went down much farther than his light could illuminate. He wasted no more time, and dropped into the elevator.

Alexander turned to Louise and motioned for her to go next. She was hesitant, seeing that the drop was certainly quite farther than she'd ever like to fall. She slung her AK onto her back next to her double-barrel and got on her bottom in the same way Grouse had. Her legs dangling in the elevator shaft, she began inching her way over the edge.

Founder, this was stupid.

Suddenly, she noticed Alexander had extended a hand for her to take. She was confused for a moment, until she realized he must mean to lower her into the shaft so she wouldn't have as far of a drop. She twisted and grasped onto his hand with both of hers, tenderly sliding her bottom off the edge of the floor. She kept her eyes down and allowed herself to drop when she felt the distance had been decreased sufficiently. Although she had fallen a far shorter distance than the others, the impact was much harsher than she had been expecting.

She stumbled forward, her hand quickly reaching out and grasping the elevator cable to steady herself. She wasted little time, guided by Alexander's light, she dropped through the hatch into the elevator.

She exited the elevator through the barely opened doors, finding Siesta standing near the elevator while Grouse was looking around. The area the elevator had led to a long concrete passageway with pipes and conduits lining the walls, and was by Louise's estimation a thousand times darker than the levels above. She already dreaded having to traverse this passage.

"Hey," Siesta greeted, smirking. "Your footsies still intact?"

"My _feet_ are fine," Louise huffed, glaring. "No thanks to you. How are we going to get out of here now?"

Siesta waved her off. "It'll be fine, don't worry. It's like an adventure!"

Louise scoffed. It'll be fine? How could it be fine? She was sure they were going to be swarmed by these bloodsucking creatures and all die slow and agonizing deaths.

Another resounding thud signaled that Alexander had dropped onto the elevator. After a smaller thud, Alexander emerged from the elevator. Grouse turned, seeing everyone had assembled.

"Alright then, let's see what's down here."

Louise noted that his attitude seemed to match hers as they started off down the passage. He was completely void of any enthusiasm, unlike Siesta. In fact, Siesta seemed to be practically bouncing on her heels in the darkness. She sighed, and was beginning to consider that Siesta may actually be completely insane.

The group halted when Grouse's light highlighted something troubling.

"I was actually really hoping something like this would happen," Alexander remarked sarcastically. The passage was completely blocked. Steel bars extended from the floor to the ceiling and from wall to wall. A small man-sized gate was situated on the far right side, which on further inspection Grouse found not only to be locked, but also completely welded closed.

"Why would somebody weld this?" Grouse asked to nobody in particular, heaving a ragged sigh.

"Because they knew we were coming and wanted to ruin our day," Alexander suggested. "Or perhaps, it's somebody else's way of saying that we _really_ don't want to go down there."

"Or maybe we really don't want to be in _here_," Siesta added, flashing a grin when the two men turned to glare at her.

"Fuck off, Siesta. Don't say shit like that," Grouse groaned, heading back the way they had come. Siesta only laughed at his response. "Let's find a way up the damn elevator shaft then."

The group made their way towards the elevator, flashlights darting about. It was when Alexander's flashlight passed over a previously unnoticed door that caused him to stop the group.

"Grouse. Door."

Grouse turned to point his shotgun towards the door as well, shining his light through the partially opened steel door. He immediately noticed something unsettling.

"Shit, I think I see a body," Grouse observed tensely, moving towards the door with his weapon raised. The others followed behind him, and were quickly hit with the smell of decay.

"Founder above," Louise breathed, letting her AK hang in one hand while she covered her nose with her sleeve. Upon entering the room, flashlights revealed four bodies laying about the room. "God, the smell. I'm going to vomit."

"Just don't get it on me," Siesta warned teasingly, moving to look over Grouse's shoulder as he examined a body.

"Look at these markings," Grouse began, glancing at Alexander as he began to scavenge another body for equipment. "The markings on the head and neck, they're different from the other bodies we examined with Tremor."

Siesta observed the gaunt and pale face of the long dead stalker in silence, while Louise released a squeak of horror when she wandered over.

"That's what happens when the Bloodsucker's get you," Siesta said, nudging Louise with her elbow. "They suck out all your blood and you end up looking like that guy."

Louise shuddered at the thought, and especially the slack-jawed expression of eternal horror forever written on the corpse's face. A rather out of place thought suddenly sprung to her mind.

"Funny, you kind of already look like that."

Siesta stood shocked for a few moments, before she smacked Louise on the arm as she laughed. "Ouch, my feelings. Where did that come from?"

"It sort of just sprung to mind, actually," Louise replied distantly, her eyes still latched onto the corpse. "You always make rude-but-not-serious remarks about me, so I thought I'd return the favor."

"Talk about weird timing though. I figured you'd be all worried about being set upon by Bloodsuckers and blind dogs and zombies and have all the flesh torn from your bones and your insides become outsides and..."

Louise glared, cutting the stalker off. "I had been thinking about that quite a lot. Thank you for that beautiful imagery as well. Have you considered becoming a writer? Can you _even_ write?"

Siesta clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Of course I can write. I told you I liked horror novels, didn't I?"

"Just because you can read doesn't mean you can write."

"Of course it does," Siesta said, eyeing Louise in disbelief. "Do you know anybody who can read but not write?"

"No."

"Well? They go hand in hand."

"N-not necessarily!"

"They totally do!"

"If you two are done having a lover's quarrel," Grouse began, having moved to different corpse without Siesta or Louise even noticing.

"Not cool," Siesta interjected, shooting a glare at the stalker.

"Then I believe we can move on," Grouse finished, ignoring Siesta. He obviously couldn't understand the context of what the two girls had been saying, but it easy to deduce that it was over something stupid. "Danila isn't here. Who knows where he could have ended up."

Louise felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Alexander holding two AK-74 style magazines for her to take. She accepted them, nodding her thanks. She looked the magazines over, finding that they were indeed the kind that would fit in her weapon, although she was sure Alexander already knew that. Nevertheless, she stripped a round off one just to be sure. She eyed the back of the cartridge, squinting at the little numbers in the darkness.

_5.45 x 39 _

It would work. She pocketed the magazines.

Grouse moved to the only other door in the room, and upon trying it he found it was locked. He crouched down in front of the knob, fishing through his pockets.

"I'll see if I can pick this. Shouldn't take too long."

Alexander leaned over his shoulder, while Louise turned to Siesta for an explanation.

"What's he doing to the door?"

"Picking the lock," Siesta explained.

Louise thought for a moment. "I think in this situation it would be better just to be a little crude and just break the door."

Siesta nodded. "It would be faster, yeah. But it would make a lot of noise."

Grouse groaned, cursing at the lock. It was giving him more trouble than it should have.

"We were just shooting guns upstairs," Louise said, eyeing the stalker flatly. "I think that if anything was going to be annoyed at us because of noise it would have done so already."

"Probably," Siesta chuckled. "But it doesn't hurt to be careful, you know."

Louise huffed and was about to retort when Grouse pulled the door open. She decided to leave what Siesta said alone. It was sound advice that she knew she should take into consideration, even if it was a rather vague and well known piece of advice.

It had also come out of a woman who had jumped into an elevator shaft.

While Louise wasn't sure about many of the contraptions and customs in this world, she could easily assume that jumping into an elevator shaft was not a normal thing to do.

Louise followed behind Grouse and Alexander through the door, finding that they had entered a narrow hallway lined with pipes behind steel gratings. Siesta wordlessly took up the rear. It wasn't long before the group ground to a halt, causing Louise to nearly bury her face in Alexander's back from the sudden stop.

Louise gave him a quizzical glance, seeing him slowly turn around to look over her head and address Siesta. He spoke quickly, in a low voice. Louise turned to Siesta, and was quite surprised to find a look of fear crossing the ex-maid's face.

"S-Siesta," Louise whispered nervously. "What is it? What did he say to you?"

Siesta swallowed. "The room ahead of us is full of sleeping Bloodsuckers."

…

_A/N: This turned out to be another chapter that I decided to cut in half. _

_Oh well. Stay tuned for the next chapter, when Louise and Siesta really get into trouble._


	8. Humble Beginnings VIII

_Humble Beginnings VIII_

_Zaton_

_10:13_

Louise stood frozen, fear quickly filling the pit of her stomach. She knew this was it, that this was going to be the end of her short life. She would be drained of her blood in a dark basement by a squid-faced nightmare, or more accurately, an entire room full of them.

An entire room full of Bloodsuckers.

An entire room full of _sleeping_ Bloodsuckers.

Something clicked in Louise's head. She turned to Siesta, her voice tiny and weak. "How can they be asleep? We were just shooting our guns upstairs."

Siesta's thought process visibly consisted of her opening her mouth to respond, closing her mouth, opening it again, and then furrowing her brow. She looked to Alexander. "Yeah… Louise is onto something, actually."

"What?" Alexander replied, confused. Siesta mentally slapped herself. She had said that in Tristainian.

"How are the Bloodsuckers sleeping, if we were shooting upstairs," Siesta said slowly.

Alexander paused in thought before glancing at Grouse for some sort of explanation. He shrugged.

"Heavy sleepers… maybe?"

Alexander heaved a sigh. "That's a theory I'd rather not test."

"Right, well," Grouse said, swallowing. "I suppose we should make our way through them then."

Siesta raised an eyebrow. Frankly, that was the most bat-shit insane idea she'd heard in a while. She could think of only one that was comparable in insaneness.

_How about we just try talking to the Controller? Who knows? Maybe it's just scared and misunderstood._

The stalker shuddered at the memory. That particular situation hadn't gone well at all_._ Siesta would readily admit that she developed ideas and plans in her head that most would consider insane and stupid, and she usually carried them out with a fair percentage of success – much to the ire and sometimes amusement of others. However, she would be proud to admit that attempting conversation with a Controller was _not_ one of her crazy ideas, and she had been firmly against it.

Although it had been a disaster, she did take one lesson away from the encounter.

Controllers were most certainly not scared of humans. In fact, it could be said they have a rather vehement hatred of the species.

All of this was water under the bridge, focusing on the present was her current priority.

"How?" Siesta asked quietly. "You're crazy."

Grouse gave her a sidelong glance. "I'm crazy? You're the one who jumped into the elevator shaft."

Siesta bit her lip. So jumping into the elevator shaft had been a stupid idea. However, the others _had_ followed her. She decided not to argue the fact. It was not the time or place. The group started off slowly in single file.

"W-wait," Louise whispered in fright as Siesta nudged her forward. "We're going in there? W-w-why are we going in there?"

"Just follow behind Alexander," Siesta instructed. "And stay quiet."

Louise bit her lip, feeling like her stomach and heart were going to rip out of her body from being so afraid. It was difficult to pick out anything else in the room as they slowly descended a set of stairs. Grouse headed up the group, the flashlight attached to his shotgun pointed more at the floor than anything else. He didn't seem inclined to begin waving it about any time soon.

When she saw the first Bloodsucker, barely illuminated by Grouse's light, Louise's heart came grinding to a halt.

It seemed that these creatures preferred to sleep while standing up. She bit down on her lip hard.

_Bloody ridiculous!_

Louise was sure she would remember this as one of the scariest things anybody could do. At least the creatures weren't invisible while they slept.

As they quietly navigated the maze of slumbering Bloodsuckers, one to Louise's right released a heavy breath which seemed to slam right into her face. She stiffened as the hot air pricked at her skin, and the horrid stench of the creature's breath reached her nose. She could barely see the creatures under the meager illumination Grouse's light provided while pointed at the floor, but she could hear them breathing all around her.

And now, she could feel one.

A Bloodsucker twitched in its sleep, it's hand shooting upward and lazily coming back down to rest directly on top of Louise's head. She froze.

Behind her, Louise could hear Siesta inhale sharply at the sight of the tawny hand resting on Louise's head. The pinkette quickly stuck an arm out and grabbed a fistful of Alexander's coat, causing him to come to a halt as well. When he glanced back at her he mouthed something at the sight, which of course Louise couldn't make sense out of. Grouse stopped as well, observing the situation with fearful curiosity.

The hand moved again, sliding down across Louise's face before it dropped to the Bloodsucker's side. Louise wiped her mouth on her sleeve in disgust. The creature's hand had brushed against her lips. The pinkette spared the particular Bloodsucker a glance, finding that its sleep hadn't been disturbed in the least.

The group began to move again, eager to put that little situation behind them. As they painstakingly made their way through the maze of deadly creatures, Louise began to wonder why all of the bad things that could possibly happen in a situation seemed to gravitate towards her.

Obviously bad things happened to other people as well, just… not as much when she was around.

They turned a corner around a set of electrical cabinets, finding a lengthy staircase set before them. Interestingly, the room at the top seemed to be quite well lit. Even better, it seemed to be the end of the Bloodsucker's nest. They quietly climbed the stairs, finding the room at the top to be well lit only because of a dead stalker. He had been carrying a handheld industrial lamp that had fallen from his hands upon his death, which must have been recent, judging from the fact that the lamp was still functioning.

"Well," Grouse remarked quietly, strolling into the room with relief. "And we didn't even disturb naptime."

Siesta lightly chuckled at the comment before glancing at Louise. She had expected the pinkette to get angry, blame her for what had happened, and stomp away with steam flowing out of her ears. She was being oddly quiet, her eyes fixed to the floor almost as if she were in a daze. "Hey, Louise?"

"Yeah?" Louise replied distantly, breaking her gaze from the floor. She pawed at the top of her head. She could still feel the hand.

"You okay?"

Louise shuddered, some of her usual demeanor returning. "I-I suppose. I am never doing _that_ again, though."

Siesta nodded in agreement. "Perhaps my jumping into the elevator shaft was not the best course of action."

"The thought hadn't crossed my mind," Louise huffed sarcastically, casting a wary glance towards the stairs.

"Guys," Alexander spoke up, drawing the group's attention. "I think I smell fresh air over here."

Grouse turned away from the dead stalker, seeing that Alexander was now heading for the only other way out of the room. Grouse followed, motioning for the girls to do so as well. They entered the passageway, seeing that Alexander's light illuminated a door sitting at the end. There was only one thing in their way.

An enormous hole in the floor.

The hole, which was most likely caused by an anomaly, spanned from one side of the hallway to the other and was far too large to jump across. The concrete and steel rebar had been eaten away, along with earth and a layer of steel. It seemed the hole allowed access to a large metal culvert.

Alexander wordlessly dropped into the hole, his boots sinking into the mud on contact. Thankful that the drop hadn't been as far as in the elevator shaft, Alexander glanced around and smiled at what he saw. He was sure he had smelt the fresh air coming up from the hole in the floor, and the literal light at the end of the tunnel proved him right. He looked up to the awaiting faces of the group.

"There's a way out, come down."

Grouse was the first to come down, followed by Siesta and then Louise, who was far less than happy to find her boots sinking into the mud. They traversed the tunnel mostly in silence, with only the sounds of the muck squelching underneath their boots reaching their ears. The mouth of the tunnel neared quickly.

Louise exited the tunnel last, and did so mouth agape. They had emerged in a rather peculiar area. She was sure it had been a small pond at some point, and even before that it had likely been a part of a larger network of waterways when the water level was much higher, but now it was something completely different.

Gravitational anomalies had perverted the area into making absolutely no sense, which shouldn't have been a surprise given the nature of the Zone, but Louise couldn't help but gawk. The surface of the pond was not flat as it should have been. Instead, it was dotted with peaks and mounds of pure water. The water flowed randomly, up, down, sideways, and diagonally.

This, however, was only the first thing wrong with the scene. The second was the air around the pond. A haze seemed to hang about the area, coming into existence at one end of the pond, and fading out at the other as the wind blew. It largely reminded her of the haze seen underneath the Oakpine anomaly, so thinking logically – Zone logically, that is – Louise quickly deduced that the haze was probably not good for anybody's health. The final thing wrong with the scene, was the _thing_ sitting near the middle of the pond. On one of the small patches of exposed earth that dotted the pond, a mechanical monstrosity sat derelict and damaged. The pinkette had no idea what to make of it.

Louise was broken out of her thoughts as the group began to converse in Ukrainian. She turned to Siesta with a longing expression, wanting to be clued in.

Siesta kindly obliged her. "We're just kind of wondering why there's a helicopter sitting in the middle of that anomaly field."

_Helicopter?_

What in the name of God was a helicopter? Was it self-explanatory like an elevator? If an elevator's function was to elevate, was a helicopter's function to helicopt? Louise scoffed at her own thoughts. That couldn't possibly be it. She'd ask later.

"Well," Grouse grunted. "Danila wasn't in there, so that's just a dead end."

Alexander gave him a sideways glance. "Do you mean other than the fact that it's a giant lair of Bloodsuckers?"

"Yes, well," Grouse sighed, scratching his head. That unsettling fact may have slipped his mind for a moment. "We should head back to the Skadovsk. I need to speak to Tremor regarding the markings that were on the bodies, and we also have to talk to Beard about the Bloodsuckers."

The others were quick to agree. Louise was as well, once she was informed of what was happening.

…

"Alright," Alexander began, pulling up a seat adjacent to Louise and Siesta. They had arrived in the Skadovsk, and Grouse had immediately gone to talk to Tremor, leaving the others to speak to Beard about the Bloodsucker problem. Since Alexander had the best grasp of Ukrainian out of the remaining members of the group, being that it was his native language, he had volunteered to speak to Beard on their behalf.

"Beard said something has to be done about the lair, obviously," Alexander continued, noticing that Siesta had chosen to translate his Ukrainian to Louise in real-time. He was aware that she couldn't speak the language well, but now he knew that she at least understood what was being said. "But he doesn't want to just send in a bunch of stalkers to shoot up the place, it would be a suicide mission. He'd rather explore other options first, which I completely agree with."

Siesta nodded in agreement, along with Louise.

"His best idea was to gas the place, since he's heard of a stash of poison gas or something here in Zaton."

Siesta's eyebrows found their way upward in surprise. "Here? In Zaton?"

"Yup," Alexander nodded, crossing his arms. "That's all he knew, though. Apparently Owl is the one who knows more."

Groaning, Siesta rolled her eyes. She was not fond of the trader known as Owl, but he provided a necessary service. It wouldn't do to go wandering around Zaton looking for some poison gas. They didn't even know exactly what they were looking for, and Zaton was far too large to do such a thing.

"But I've got some things I need to take care of in the meantime," Alexander suddenly continued, standing up from his chair. Siesta eyed the man with a little surprise. "But talk to Owl anyway, if you don't mind. I shouldn't be long, and Grouse should be around soon as well."

Bidding the man farewell, Siesta watched as he made for the door and left the confines of the Skadovsk. The moment the door had latched shut, she promptly rose from her seat.

"Are we going to see Owl?" Louise asked reluctantly, standing along with her stalker partner.

Siesta sighed. "Unfortunately."

"Great," the pinkette returned sarcastically, hefting her carbine into her hands.

They swiftly made their way upstairs, ducking into the room that Owl called home. It was a similar affair to Sidorovich's arrangements; a small area of the room was allotted for customers, while the rest had been barred off. Rifles, shotguns, pistols, sub-machine guns and many other types of weapons hung on the walls. Boxes of ammunition were stacked neatly onto shelves, and even larger tins of ammunition were also present if one preferred to buy in bulk.

Owl eyed the pair with a bored expression, while Siesta and Louise kept their faces blank. Louise stared at the rat-faced man, imagining him with long whiskers and enlarged front teeth. She suppressed a smirk. If she could illustrate it, she certainly would.

Louise's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Siesta began profusely swearing in Tristainian.

"Are you fucking kidding me!? You fucking God damn asshole I swear I'll…"

"Siesta!" Louise groaned, narrowing her eyes. "What's the matter with you?"

Siesta shut herself up, taking a deep breath. She held up a hand to keep the pinkette silent. "I'll explain in a minute, just hold on."

The ex-maid turned back to Owl, who simply continued to eye her flatly despite her outburst.

Siesta sighed. "Really? Three-thousand?"

Owl nodded. "Yes. Then I'll tell you what you want to know."

"One-thousand."

"Three-thousand."

"Twelve-fifty."

"Three-thousand."

"Fifteen-hundred."

"Three-thousand."

Siesta groaned in frustration, ready to pull her hair out. She'd reach over the countertop and throttle the man, but then the better half of the boat would be on her back about it. "Two-thousand!"

"Deal," Owl agreed, rather unexpectedly. He held out his hand, awaiting payment.

Reluctantly drawing an appropriate amount of bills from her rear pocket, Siesta handed Owl the money.

"Alright," Owl began, speaking as he counted over the money. "The gas you're looking for is on Preobrazhensky Bridge, just past the Ranger Station. A military convoy was passing over the bridge when it was hit with multiple anomalies. From what I've heard, the gas should still be there, probably in a truck or something. The gas itself is actually Perin B3, a nerve gas. It's dangerous stuff, if you're using it on that lair of Bloodsuckers it should work nicely."

Siesta nodded with a sigh as she turned to leave. She felt more than a little cheated having paid two-thousand Rubles just to hear that. She also wondered how Owl knew what he knew, and how did he even know what she was up to? It was likely that it was mentioned by Alexander or Grouse, but who could know for sure? The man sold information regularly, but how he gained most of his information was a mystery.

A mystery Siesta didn't really care to solve.

…

Having had no patience left after her encounter with Owl, Siesta elected to leave for the bridge with Louise before either Grouse or Alexander could return. She was confident that they could both handle this simple task.

They were both now travelling uphill along a strip of road that Siesta knew would eventually bring them right to the bridge. The road gracefully curved upward around a small grove of trees. Louise also idly noticed that the top of a building poked over the crest of the hill in the distance. Siesta had told her that it was the Ranger Station, and that it was largely abandoned. However, Siesta did note that it would provide good cover in the event of an emission.

As they approached an old van on the road, Siesta's anomaly detector sprung to life with a ticking noise that Louise immediately felt was rather annoying. Siesta jumped in surprise, stopping in her tracks and barring Louise from going any further with an outstretched arm. She brandished her detector, flipping up the cover that protected the display.

"I was always glad that these things have Geiger counters in them," Siesta breathed. "Come on, around the van. Don't go to close."

"Right," Louise began, confused. Siesta knew what was coming. "Any particular reason why?"

Siesta sighed, making her way around the van with Louise in tow. She hadn't gotten around to explaining the ins and outs of radiation and its dangers to Louise yet, and now wasn't a particularly opportune moment to do so.

"It's radiation. I'll explain it later, okay? Now isn't the best time. I don't explain these things to you because I don't care, it's just…"

"You forget," Louise finished for her, drawing a glance from the stalker. "Because you've become used to these things, you forget that you have to explain them."

Siesta chose not to respond, fearing she may accidentally say something stupid and change Louise's mind on the subject. Instead, she focused her attention on something else. As they followed the graceful curve of the road upward, they neared a small group of stalkers sitting at the side of the road. They crowded around a small fire, eating their lunches or simply sitting idle. It was a depressing scene. Everybody seemed downcast, which wasn't that unusual.

Siesta scanned the group as they passed, looking for any familiar faces. She quickly spied a stalker she was a little familiar with, Spartacus. He offered her a small wave, to which she smiled and returned. Louise only spared the group a curious glance.

They continued in silence, nearing the Ranger Station. At this distance, Louise could see that the compound was surrounded by thick concrete walls that were broken in many places, exposing bent rebar. A rather tall multi-story building sat at the back of the compound, and next to it a slightly shorter building stood with large, dirtied windows gracing its walls. Two long buildings stood next to each other in front of the multi-story building, running parallel to the road. Various smaller buildings and storage sheds dotted the inside of the walls, making Louise wonder why this area wasn't more populated.

Perhaps there simply weren't enough people to make most areas populated around here. Louise frowned at the thought. She remained silent, even as they began passing in front of the compound. However, she soon found herself unable to keep her curiosity in anymore.

"So…" Louise began, drawing the word out. "What was this place for?"

Siesta scoffed. "Who knows? All I do know is that mercenaries used to hang around here, but they moved out before you showed up. They're set up on the other side of the bridge now."

Louise bit her lip. Mercenaries? She knew she shouldn't be surprised. This kind of place was likely to attract those kinds of folks. "Really? Why'd they do that? If I was interested in having a base for myself I think this would do nicely."

Siesta frowned. "I often wonder why they did that myself. They sure left in a hurry, though. Like, one day they were here, and the next they were gone."

Louise eyed the abandoned Ranger Station. Perhaps the leaving of the mercenaries only meant that this was a place they should take care in avoiding. The pinkette then suddenly noticed that she was walking alongside the Zaton pipeline once again. Strange, considering it hadn't been there just a second ago. She whipped her head around, finding that the pipe had emerged from the grove of trees to turn sharply and run parallel to the road.

Ahead, she could see the bridge they were looking for, and that the pipeline continued to run over the top of said bridge. The bridge was visible from many locations in Zaton, and she had noted it as being one of the largest bridges she had ever seen. It was made of steel, mostly. It had a large concrete underbelly that was shaped like a wide upside down 'U'. It was a strange construction, Louise had decided. From the distances she had seen it from it also appeared to be mostly intact, so she wasn't worried about its structural integrity.

However, she also noticed that a fog was rolling in, which did elicit a few flakes of worry within her.

"Siesta, it's getting foggy," Louise announced as they drew close to the bridge.

Siesta ground to a halt, and Louise could easily hear the fear in her voice as she spoke. "You're right. Shit… I hadn't noticed."

Louise froze, her eyes widening. "W-what? What do you mean? W-what happens when there's fog!?"

"It means…" Siesta slowly turned around, swallowing. Louise desperately awaited her to finish, but only found herself being flicked on the nose. "That it's just getting foggy. Geez, who cares?"

"You!" Louise growled, swiping at the stalker's hand as she retracted it. "You know I don't know much about the Zone! For all I know the fog here could be filled with… d-deadly creatures with lobster claws and t-tentacles that attack people and feed on their insides!"

"No, it's just fog. It's pretty normal around here, I assure you," Siesta explained, scoffing at the workings of Louise's strange imagination. One minute she was calling a flashlight a 'directional torch,' and the next she was making up horrifying creatures. The pinkette had said that she was lacking in creativity, but Siesta found herself partly disagreeing. It seemed that Louise's imagination ran wild when she began thinking about the disturbing creatures that could possibly exist in the Zone, and the many ways that they could end her life.

Siesta's expression changed to one of slight sympathy. It was obvious that the poor Noble girl simply didn't want to die a horrible death at the hands – or claws – of some mutant. Siesta completely understood. During her first months in the Zone, her fear of death would cause her mind to constantly create disturbing scenarios such as mutants feasting on her while she was still alive, or being torn to shreds, torched, electrocuted, or crushed by anomalies.

In those days, panic attacks were plentiful, and quite troublesome.

Siesta's eyes found themselves settling on the bandaged portion of Louise's face. "I meant to ask you earlier, but how's your face doing?"

Slightly surprised at the swift change in subject, Louise tenderly grazed her fingertips over the bandages with a wince. "It hurts. Especially when I yawn or stretch my face in any way, which I try to limit myself from doing since I'd rather not re-open any of the cuts. And I'm worried about the scars they're going to leave behind…"

"If it's any consolation," Siesta began, heading towards the bridge once again. "I think you're going to look like a badass."

Louise scoffed. "I'd rather not look like that, thank you."

"Why not?" Siesta asked teasingly. "What if you got back to Tristain someday, and everyone you knew saw your scars and were like," Siesta changed her voice to a higher and a slightly more mocking pitch. "'Oh Louise! How did you get those scars?' And then you tell them the story of how you kicked a Bloodsucker's ass, and they'll think you're super cool!"

Louise rolled her eyes. "Yes I'm sure that's exactly how it would happen. Then Kirche would also become ugly and flat-chested, Montmorency's hair would turn grey and fall out, and Guiche would go blind and never be able to stare at girl's chests from across the room again."

Siesta raised an eyebrow. Was Louise self-conscious about her chest? She put that thought aside. "Friends of yours?"

"No," Louise simply replied, to which Siesta shrugged.

"Anyway," Siesta said, her boots finally hitting the surface of the bridge. "This is… the bridge."

"The bridge?" Louise asked, eyeing the ex-maid flatly. "Does 'the bridge' have an actual name, or is it just called 'the bridge'?"

"Well it does have an actual name, but I can't be bothered to remember it," Siesta admitted, waving dismissively. "Well, I mean I know what it is, but I can't pronounce it. Seriously –" Siesta spread her arms out to her sides in an exaggerated manner. "-The word is like this long."

Louise smirked. "Sure, if it's in the most ridiculously large lettering possible."

Siesta rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I'd love to see you try and say it."

Ignoring the stalker's remark, Louise pointed to a collection of vehicles sitting about halfway across the bridge. "I think it's safe to assume that what we're looking for is over there?"

"Good chance," Siesta nodded, starting off with Louise right behind her. Just as quickly, she ground to a halt. "Wait a second."

Instead of groaning in impatience, Louise narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on the AK. "What is it?"

Siesta pointed, while at the same time drawing a bolt out of her pouch. "Do you see it?"

Louise eyed the path ahead for a few moments before she was able to notice the haziness in the air ahead. She heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that if she hadn't been with Siesta she would have walked straight into an anomaly. "A burner? I don't feel any warmth."

"I don't think so," Siesta said, swiftly letting a bolt fly.

Upon making contact with the anomaly the bolt exploded with a small 'pop', similar to a firecracker. The bolt shot off in a random direction, red hot a leaving a trail of smoke behind it.

"I see," Siesta remarked calmly, a hand scratching at her chin.

"Y-you see?" Louise gaped, watching as the anomaly returned to its idle state. "It just blew up!"

"Whirligigs, these are called," Siesta explained, tossing another bolt. She planned to probe the anomalies to see if there were any gaps. "Sneaky little bastards. If you wander into one, you'll definitely be killed."

Louise watched as Siesta continued to throw bolts to their inevitable doom, and act which the ex-maid seemed to find thoroughly entertaining. Soon enough, it became apparent that they weren't getting across the bridge this way.

Siesta groaned in frustration, peeling back her hood and running a hand through her mop of messy hair. She had a feeling that this relatively simple task was going to become far more complicated than it should be. She observed the bridge closely, and aside from some fallen sections of pipe and accompanying supports, the convoy, and anomalies, there was nothing else of interest immediately visible.

Except for a ladder that she just noticed.

A ways up the bridge, Siesta was sure she could see the top of a ladder poking up over the side of the bridge. She moved to the side of the bridge, leaning out over the railing. Sure enough, a ladder extended down from the bridge's surface to the concrete underbelly below.

Siesta smiled. Hopefully the ladder would be an easy way to bypass some anomalies. There was only one way to find out for sure.

"Come on," Siesta urged, retreating off of the bridge. "Idea time."

Louise followed after the stalker. "For some reason I don't like the sound of that."

They both shuffled down the steep incline that led underneath the bridge, Louise grumbling all the while. Siesta only smirked, and decided against commenting on the pinkette's mumbling distaste for steep hills and thickening fog.

As they reached the underbelly of the bridge, they found that ascending the curved concrete surface was quite easy. Siesta had expected things more along the lines of balancing precariously on steel beams, but she wasn't about to complain. They passed by support pillar after support pillar, finding that the ladder they were searching for very close to where the concrete and the top of the bridge met.

She stepped out onto the catwalk, wary of the groans of protest the metal was releasing. She cast a couple of glances around, finding that the catwalk would have probably snaked the entire way across the bridge if most of it hadn't broken off and fallen to the marshes below, marshes that she found herself unable to see as she looked down. The fog had advanced in force, further dampening their visibility. She couldn't see the other end of the bridge either.

Siesta shrugged, deftly mounting the ladder. It's not like the fog was going to hamper their progress in any way.

When it came for Louise's turn to walk out onto the catwalk, she did so hesitantly. She had always heard that in the event of heights, do not look down. Unfortunately, looking down was the first thing she ended up doing. She couldn't see the ground through the fog, but that seemed to make it so much worse. Who knew how high off of the ground they were right now.

"Hey!"

Louise yelped in fright, nearly tossing her AK over the edge of the railing. She quickly glared upward, finding Siesta's face sticking out over the railing.

"Are you afraid of heights or something?" Siesta asked teasingly.

"Yes, actually," Louise admitted, finding it difficult to will her legs to move as she stared down through the steel catwalk. "I'm not very fond of heights at all."

Siesta rolled her eyes, smirking. "Don't be such a pussy Louise. If you can walk into a lair of Bloodsuckers, you can stand to be a little high off the ground."

While Louise glared, she knew Siesta was right. She approached the ladder with her AK slung onto her back. She felt unsure as she wrapped her hands around the rungs.

"Oh come on, haven't you climbed a ladder before?"

Louise felt herself growing more annoyed with Siesta. Her brain decided that yelling at the ex-maid would most likely help the situation. "Would you stop chastising me!? No I've never climbed a bloody ladder before! We had people like _you_ for things like that!"

Louise heard Siesta huff in annoyance as she disappeared over the edge of the bridge. Content that she wasn't being studied like an ant, Louise fearfully ascended the ladder. When she reached the top, the solid surface of the bridge felt like pure heaven.

"Over this way!" Siesta called out, quickly grabbing the pinkette's attention. Louise found that Siesta was directly across from her on the other side of the bridge, with a section of fallen pipe lying between them. It seemed that if Siesta was peeved by what Louise had just said, she had quickly shrugged it off. "Just come straight, okay?"

Louise looked to her sides, finding the wavy air thick with anomalies. She decided to do as the ex-maid said, and went straight towards her. She not-so-gracefully clambered over the pipe and quickly rejoined her companion.

Siesta smirked, pointing towards the lower half of Louise's body. "You've got some of the rust on you."

Louise glanced down at her pants and then back to the rusted pipe she had climbed over. She brushed off her pants, feeling annoyed. They strode towards the collection of military vehicles, Siesta tossing bolts all the while. It soon became evident that the area surrounding the vehicles was thankfully clear of anomalies, allowing them to move freely.

While Siesta wasn't particularly interested by the vehicles, Louise found herself quite intrigued. The first vehicle they passed was a UAZ jeep, similar to the one she had seen at the Gas Station although this one seemed to lack a roof. The next vehicle was an enormous thing, a hulking mass of steel sitting on eight wheels. Unbeknownst to her it was a BTR-80. After that was a large cargo truck that Siesta was currently climbing onto. Another BTR-80 sat in front of the truck, and Louise was fairly certain that there was another jeep in front of that.

If these things could actually move on their own, Louise desperately wanted to see it.

Siesta extended a hand for Louise, who in turn accepted. She found herself having to provide minimal effort into climbing into the bed of the truck. Siesta practically lifted her all on her own. Instead of commenting on Siesta's upper body strength, Louise looked to the large metal box that Siesta was bumping with her foot.

"Pretty sure this is it."

Louise groaned in disbelief. "We can't take this! It's enormous!"

Siesta shook her head, laughing. "No, it's _inside_ this box."

Sighing, Louise crouched down in front of the box. The first thing she noticed was an old and rusted lock keeping the container closed. Great. "So what exactly does nerve gas do?"

Siesta shrugged. "I'm not sure, to be honest, but it doesn't sound very nice. I'd rather not find out first hand."

"Yes, well," Louise began, nodding in agreement. "I suppose we shall be careful with it then."

"We will, so step away from it."

Louise quirked an eyebrow, standing up. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to open it."

"How? It's locked and we've got no key."

Siesta drew her sidearm. "I've got a key right here."

Louise's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw the gun. She immediately began waving her arms about in protest. "W-wait! No! Don't do that!"

Sighing, Siesta holstered the weapon. "Yeah, that's probably a bad idea." Louise was about to respond, but Siesta beat her to the punch. "Poke around the cars, yeah? See if you can find any keys or something. I'll start looking here." Siesta gestured to the boxes and crates around them.

Louise nodded, quickly jumping down from the truck. She approached the lead vehicle in the convoy, and found something rather troubling. A section of the bridge had collapsed, and the UAZ's front wheels hung off the edge. She had noticed that there had been some damage to the bridge from a distance, but up close it looked much worse. Putting that aside, she moved to rummage through the jeep.

_BANG!_

Louise nearly jumped out of her boots when the sound of a gunshot came from frighteningly close by. She at first feared for her companion's safety, but the fear quickly melted into anger as she stomped back over to the truck.

"You shot it! You definitely shot it!" Louise barked, seeing Siesta hunched over in front of the now open container.

Siesta shot her a grin. "I got impatient, okay?"

"I was gone for no more than thirty seconds!"

"Well I got impatient really fast."

Louise glared as Siesta produced a white cylindrical tank from the container. Siesta held it up for a moment, observing the markings on the tank and the fittings on the top.

"Kind of looks like a propane tank," Siesta remarked, drawing a confused look from Louise.

"A what tank?"

"Never mind," Siesta began, holding the tank out over the edge of the truck. "Here, take it."

Louise accepted the tank into her arms almost like she would an infant. The tank had a surprising weight to it, causing her to quickly opt to set it down on the road surface. Siesta jumped down from the truck, stretching her back when she was firmly on the road.

"So did you check out the cars?" Siesta asked expectantly.

Louise narrowed her eyes. "No? I wasn't gone for nearly long enough."

Siesta wordlessly approached the lead UAZ, taking a quick look in the back. Two flat wooden crates caught her eye, especially the faded numbers _5.45 _stenciled upon them. Siesta smiled at the sight of the ammunition, and there was even more in the truck. It was obviously too much to carry now, but she made a mental note of it.

Returning to Louise, Siesta swiped up the gas tank and announced that they were leaving. Louise followed in silence, at least until they had reached the ladder.

"How are we going to get the tank down the ladder?"

Siesta froze, looking from the tank in her hands, and back to the ladder. "Fuck."

"You hadn't thought of it?" Louise asked.

"I hadn't thought of it," Siesta confirmed, setting the tank down on the road. A look of realization suddenly crossed her face. "Wait! I have an idea."

Louise silently observed as Siesta slung her rifle off of her back and set it on the road. It was soon followed by her backpack, which she began rummaging through. With a cry of triumph, Siesta quickly produced a coil of rope.

"You have rope?" Louise asked, eyeing the construct with little interest.

"Yes, I have rope," Siesta began, busying herself with securing one end of the rope to the gas tank. "Climb down the ladder and I'll send the tank down on the rope, okay?"

Louise huffed, approaching the ladder. "Why is it I have to go down first?"

"Because it's _my_ rope, and I said so. Besides, I'm pretty sure I can tie better knots than you."

Realizing that Siesta was most likely right in regards to her knot tying skills, Louise slowly descended the ladder. The rusted metal groaned dangerously, and it was now when she decided that she had a firm dislike of ladders. Moments after she had reached the bottom, Siesta let the tank dangle over Louise's head with one hand on the rope and one on the tank.

"Catch!" Siesta exclaimed jokingly, jolting slightly as if she were simply going to drop the tank. Louise rolled her eyes. Siesta let the rope slide through her gloved hands at a steady rate, being sure not to let it fall too quickly.

"If you just drop it I'm not even going to try and catch it," Louise huffed, holding out her arms expectantly as the tank slowly came towards her. She accepted the tank into her hands, guiding it to her feet. Not willing to spend any more time on the catwalk, Louise quickly moved back onto the concrete underbelly of the bridge and began to look over the knot Siesta had made.

She quickly found that she was unable to make heads or tails of it. Louise cursed her lack of practical skills, something she never thought she would do. She resorted to pulling at parts of the knot and eventually managed to free it just as Siesta reached the bottom of the ladder with the coil looped around her arm.

Approaching Louise, Siesta quickly coiled the rope into a tidy bundle and held it out for Louise to take.

"Can you put it in my pack for me? So I don't have to take it off again."

Louise nodded, quickly doing as requested. Siesta scooped up the tank of Perin B3, something Louise was thankful she wasn't stuck carrying, and they both made their way off the bridge and up the steep hill towards the road.

"How do you know how to tie knots?" Louise suddenly asked, eyeing Siesta curiously as they made their way along the road. "I always thought knots were for sailors."

Siesta smiled, thinking about how sheltered Louise's upbringing must have been. "My father was a fisherman, but he gave it up when he fell in love with my mother." She then realized that Louise knew next to nothing about her life before she had become a stalker, so she decided to explain a little. She hoped that this would open a door to getting to know each other. "We owned a little farm near the village of Tarbes. Father taught me some knots and stuff from his sailing days, but," Siesta smile turned into a sheepish one. "That one knot is the only one I can really remember."

Louise scoffed, although her lips still spread into a tiny smile. "Did you have any siblings?"

Siesta's attempt at door-opening seemed to have worked. "I have five brothers and three sisters. I'm the oldest. What about you?"

"I have two older sisters," Louise nodded, her shoulders drooping a little.

"It's hard, missing your family," Siesta remarked, sighing. She didn't even need to ask if Louise missed her family. She knew the feeling too well. "It doesn't get any easier either."

Louise sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that."

"Oh I'm many things, Louise. But a liar isn't one of them."

Before Louise could respond, the strangest groan she had ever heard drifted through the air, causing both of them to come to a stop. It wasn't the groan of a forming emission, it was far more primal. It had also come from somewhere nearby. Louise suspected it to be from within the Ranger Station, seeing as they were walking alongside it.

Louise narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What was _that_?" She turned to Siesta due to a lack of a response, finding her staring straight ahead with eyes slightly widened. "Siesta?"

Another groan soon followed, however this time it was more of a gurgling growl. Louise could only imagine what disgusting creature this sound was coming from. She was also surprised to find the ground beneath her feet shivering periodically. She brought her Kalashnikov up to her shoulder, pausing when she heard Siesta finally speak.

"Oh no, no, no. God, no. Please, no."

Louise watched as the tank of nerve gas shook in Siesta's grasp. She looked to the stalker's face, seeing only pure fear and horror. She couldn't recall ever seeing a face like that before in her life. "S-Siesta… what is happening?"

As if to answer Louise's question, barely visible through the dense fog, a creature sauntered out through a section of broken wall. She immediately noted that it was absolutely enormous, and from its silhouette it walked on two massive arm-like limbs with two smaller arms sitting above. With every step it made towards them, Louise felt the ground ever so slightly shake beneath her feet.

For the first time in recent months, Siesta found herself completely frozen with fear. She had wondered why the mercenaries had vanished from the Ranger Station, and the Zone had seen it fit to finally give her an answer. One of the Zone's most feared mutants was responsible.

The Pseudogiant.

…

_A/N: Maybe I should have mentioned this before, but these author notes may or may not contain spoilers. I'll be sure to mention it from here on out._

_Some of you may have wondered how Louise and Siesta could have possibly found themselves in more trouble than being in a room filled with dozens of sleeping Bloodsuckers. _

_I think this could be fairly worse. At least the Bloodsuckers were asleep. _

_For those of you who have played through any of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games on master difficulty, then you know how stupidly hard it can be to kill one of this damn Pseudogiants. Obviously there isn't actually a Pseudogiant in the Ranger Station in Call of Pripyat, but I decided it would be interesting to throw one into the mix. However, in the game there is one located in Zaton. I won't say where, but it certainly caught me by surprise. _

_Anyway, this first act/arc/whateveryouwannacallit will be wrapping up in the next few chapters after the introduction of a new Halkeginian to Siesta and Louise's group and the conclusion of the Bloodsucker quest._

_Also, these chapters seem to be getting longer. _

_Well, until next time._


	9. Humble Beginnings IX

_Humble Beginnings IX_

_Zaton_

_13:54_

The Pseudogiant was undoubtedly one of the most feared creatures to inhabit the Zone. During the early days, long before the path to the center had been opened, the Pseudogiant had been nothing more than a myth. Pseudogiants, Controllers, Bloodsuckers and countless other horrible creatures had once only been things the veteran stalkers of the day used to scare rookies around a campfire.

In the Zone, myth had a bad habit of turning into reality.

Like most mutants in the Zone, nobody knew how the Pseudogiant had come into existence, nor did they know how such a large creature sustained the enormous diet it must require. Almost two meters tall, very well-muscled, and incredibly stupid, the Pseudogiant was truly a force to be reckoned with.

Siesta knew this all too well. She had only seen a Pseudogiant once before, but the situation had been an absolute nightmare. Memories of long dead comrades easily came flooding back, but she had no time to reflect on them. She barely heard the clang of the tank of nerve gas hitting the ground over her own breathing. She hadn't even realized her grip had loosened on it as she was running.

She flew from the cover of the building she had just run through, seeing the Ranger Station's large multi-story building looming in front of her. She made for the front door, which stood only slightly ajar.

Siesta's shoulder flared as she charged through the door. She skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, a central stairwell by the looks of it, and whirled around just in time to see her pink-haired companion come flying into the room. Her feet slid on the dirty floor as she attempted to come to a halt.

Louise fell onto her bottom.

While she desperately wanted to laugh at the sight of Louise sliding on her bottom, Siesta bit it back. It really wasn't the time. She returned the door to its slightly ajar state, and crouched down in front of a nearby window. Louise approached moments later, and Siesta warned her to stay quiet with a finger pressed to her lips.

Not a moment after they had settled into staring through the window, the wall of the building they had previously ran through exploded outward in a shower of brick and mortar. The Pseudogiant made its grand re-entrance, stepping out into the open with a furious roar. It looked one way, and then the other, moving its entire body. It's ridiculously muscled neck served to prevent most head movement. Huge, glossy eyes darted about, desperately trying to locate its prey. After a moment, it was evident that it had been eluded. It growled in frustration, stomping off in a random direction and quickly disappearing into the fog.

"Oh… my god," Louise whimpered, sinking to her knees. "What is that? W-what in the holy name of the Founder is _that_?"

"Pseudogiant," Siesta mumbled in disbelief. "It's a God damn Pseudogiant." She let out a shaky breath. "I suppose this explains why the mercenaries left in a hurry."

"What do we do?"

Siesta bit her lip. "There's no way we can kill it with the equipment we have. It's impossible."

"What?" Louise gave Siesta a look of horror. "Not even with these guns?"

"Not a chance. Their skulls are like ten centimeters thick."

Louise narrowed her eyes. "Ten… what?"

Of course Louise would not be familiar with a modern system of measurement. Siesta frowned, spreading her thumb and index finger far enough apart to her best guess at ten centimeters. "Uh… like this?"

Louise rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Oh god. Is there even room for any brains in there?"

Siesta shrugged. "I doubt it. They're as dumb as a sack of hammers." She ran a gloved hand through her hair. "The best thing we can do is sneak past it."

Silently, Louise agreed wholeheartedly. Continuing to stare out the window, she realized the Pseudogiant had become absent from view. It was relieving, but also quite worrying at the same time. Who knew where it was lurking about now?

Louise glanced as Siesta moved to put her back to the wall, sliding down onto her bottom with an exasperated sigh. "Just… we'll go soon. Just give me a minute, okay?"

The pinkette only barely nodded, continuing to gaze through the dirtied glass. After a few moments of silence, and a couple of very deep and audible breaths from Siesta, Louise decided to address the fact that Siesta had dropped the tank of nerve gas. It wasn't as if she had only just noticed that it was gone. She had nearly tripped over the thing when it had simply been flung away. They had cut through two long buildings that ran parallel to the road, and Louise was sure the tank had been dropped in the nearest building – the one the Pseudogiant had recently emerged from.

"You dropped the tank. I can't see it anywhere," Louise squinted. Aside from the gaping new entrance created by the massive creature, the building had quite a few windows and open doors, but it was next to impossible to pick out anything inside. It was far too dark within the building. She glanced over at Siesta. "Why did you drop the tank?"

"So I could run faster. We're going to have to go and get it."

Louise wanted to let out a loud cry of frustration, but she limited it to an annoyed sigh. "We wouldn't have to if you didn't drop it."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Siesta's head slowly turn to face her. She turned to meet her look, which she quickly realized had been a mistake.

Siesta was quite plainly, a pretty girl, especially in regards to her crystal blue eyes. If her hair was properly washed and brushed, and she wore something nice, Louise was sure Siesta would do very well in her appearance. She was also sure that with the smile Siesta often wore, she'd come off as a polite and approachable person.

But Founder, she could give an intimidating glare.

"I was fucking scared, okay?" Siesta growled lowly.

Louise quickly looked away, staying silent. Alright, so she shouldn't have said that. Besides, she knew in the back of her mind that she would have likely done the same thing if she had been carrying the tank. She jumped, suddenly feeling something brush against her shoulder. Siesta was now suddenly very close to her, staring out the window like she had been previously.

"It should be right inside that building, probably near the hole that gigantic asshole made," Siesta pointed. "Not like it'll be hard to spot anyway."

Louise stared for a moment. Any semblance of anger or discontent had disappeared from Siesta's face. She wondered how Siesta could brush things off so easily without holding any kind of grudge. She sometimes found herself glaring at the ex-maid randomly because she had called her a 'Noble Girl' during the first day they had met. Perhaps it would be better to just let stupid little things like that go.

"What if the giant squashed it?" Louise asked. If the Pseudogiant had been able to shake the ground while walking, surely the tank would have easily been crushed underfoot.

Siesta bit her lip, wincing. "Well I definitely hope that isn't the case. I'm sure we'd know anyway. Tanks like that are usually under pressure, so it would have made a loud noise if it had been broken open."

Louise wasn't completely sure what Siesta meant, but she decided to trust her words. So the tank was likely still intact, that was good, wasn't it? If the tank had been broken open there would probably be nerve gas everywhere, and surely that would be quite bad.

"I can't see it anywhere," Siesta said, looking for the Pseudogiant. "I can't hear it either, could be anywhere now."

Siesta wasn't being very reassuring, that was for sure.

"Well, let's go and get this over with," Siesta muttered, sounding just as reluctant as Louise felt.

Siesta made sure all of her gear was secure, and that her rifle was snugly slung on her back. Louise did the same, slinging her Kalashnikov onto her back. If it was going to be useless against this creature like Siesta said, then Louise wasn't going to even bother carrying the weapon in her hands. Siesta seemed to be doing the same with her Mosin. Mobility would be advantageous in this situation, it seemed.

They crept outside, staying low. Louise's heart pounded furiously as they darted across open ground like a pair of mice, entering the cover of the next building through the hole in the wall. She hadn't taken much notice earlier, but now she chose to spare the interior of the building a glance. Huge metal furnaces lined the center of the building, four in total. They were massive things, no doubt having seen their fair share of use.

The tank of Perin B3 was easy to spot, like Siesta had said. It simply lay on its side near the hole the Pseudogiant had created. Louise steeled herself as she hefted the tank in her not-so-well-muscled arms. She was scared, of course, but she decided that no matter what, she was not going to drop the tank.

Siesta motioned for her to follow, but she had no time to follow the order. Two shakes underneath their feet was all the warning they had before the wall at the end of the building exploded inward. The Pseudogiant stumbled into the room, snarling and roaring in primal fury. In an instant, Louise wondered…

How could something so enormous and stupid sneak up on them that well? Perhaps it was a little smarter than they had thought. Then again, it was smashing walls with its own face. That seemed pretty stupid, even if it was working quite well.

Louise had no time left to wonder, or to be frozen in shock and fear. The giant began to charge towards them.

"Shit!" Siesta swore loudly, grabbing Louise by her arm and forcing her to move. They squeezed between a pair of furnaces, barely fitting with Siesta's backpack. Louise's grip on the tank began to loosen as they flew out through a side entrance.

_I don't want to die._

They darted across open ground again, the howling of twisting metal quite audible as the Pseudogiant simply plowed through the furnaces. The cover of the next long building neared as a hole was punched through the wall behind them. Siesta's hand tightened around Louise's arm like a vice, while at the same time Louise found her own grip on the tank slipping.

_I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I really…_

The cover of the building was barely welcoming. The Pseudogiant knew exactly where they were anyway. They weaved around an old pickup truck that was parked inside, just as the doorway they had entered through was made quite a bit larger.

_To hell with this damn tank!_

Louise dropped the tank completely, scrambling through an open window behind Siesta.

_I don't want to bloody die!_

The Ranger Station's outer wall was a mere few meters away, and like a proverbial Holy Grail, there was a jagged crack that was definitely just wide enough for them to squeeze through. The horrendous sound of the truck being twisted beyond recognition reached their ears, followed by the destruction of more brick and mortar. The pair squeezed through the crack, uncaring of the exposed rebar tearing at their clothes and skin.

The road was easily found, and they simply ran as fast as their legs could carry them. The Pseudogiant crashed into the wall right where it was cracked, but was unable to break completely through. Being that the wall was well over a foot thick, and reinforced, it was quite a lot stronger than a simple brick wall.

Siesta glanced over her shoulder, seeing the creature's head barely poking through the crack. It thrashed against the wall, pushing with all of its might. It didn't even care about the pieces of rebar sinking into its flesh. Its glossy eyes were still definitely trained on them as they ran. Siesta let out a loud guffaw, with one arm shooting into the air with a single finger raised.

They had escaped.

Despite this, they continued to run at full speed. Slowing down only when the small stalker camp along the side of the road neared. There was only one stalker sitting near the fire as Louise and Siesta stumbled in, the former nearly falling flat on her face as she sunk to her knees. They were both completely out of breath.

Siesta barely recognized Petruha as he eyed them curiously. "Siesta? What's up with you two?"

"Pseudo… giant," Siesta breathed, pointing up the hill as she fell backward onto her bottom. "In the… Ranger station."

"What!?" The stalker exclaimed, shooting up to his feet. "Fuck! Are you serious!?"

Siesta only nodded, still trying to catch her breath.

She was quite familiar with the stalker. He was one of the few stalkers from the outer regions that she knew in the area. He had been a common face around the Rookie Village for quite a long time, and had been Wolf's right hand man when he was leader of the village. When Wolf had left the village after hearing the path to the center had been discovered, Petruha had followed soon after. Siesta had been quite surprised to find him hanging around the Skadovsk when she first wandered into Zaton. They had simply shared a drink together, and then went about their lives as stalkers. She had rarely spoken to him since.

"Spartacus and his guys just went up that way," Petruha said, distraught. "Shit! You didn't see them?"

Siesta shook her head. "I… I didn't."

Petruha let out a string of curses, grabbing up his own Kalashnikov. "I've got to go warn them. You stay here, I'm sure you've had enough for one day." He quickly left, sprinting up the road leaving only more curses in his wake.

"Siesta…" Louise spoke up, staring down at the ground. "I dropped the tank."

"Just a minute," Siesta said, holding up a hand to stop the pinkette. "I don't give a shit right now… just give me a minute."

After a few moments of heavy breathing, Siesta groaned loudly into her hands.

"You dropped the damn tank!"

"I was scared!"

"I can't believe it! Even after you criticized me for dropping it first, you go and drop it yourself!"

"Shut up! I. Was. Scared!"

"No, you shut up! Now we're going to have to go back and get it!"

Louise was silent, realizing that was certainly the case. She pounded a fist on the dirt. It was her fault that they'd have to go back in there. After a few deep breaths, Louise sighed. "I'm sorry. I was just… I didn't... I – I didn't want to die."

Siesta was silent for a moment, hesitating in her response. "No… don't be sorry. It's… I'm pretty sure I would have dropped it too. I nearly wet myself running away." She rose to her feet, looking down at the pinkette. "Are you okay?"

Louise wondered, did Siesta mean physically or mentally? No matter. A quick once-over of herself revealed that she had no notable injuries, perhaps a few scrapes from squeezing through the wall, but nothing worth mentioning. Mentally, however, she was most definitely not fine. She was scared out of her wits, but she knew she would persevere.

"I… I think so. Yes, I'm fine… yes."

* * *

It wasn't long before Louise found herself within the walls of the Ranger Station once again. Both she and Siesta lay flat on the corrugated metal roof of a garage that hugged the outside wall. Instead of letting her hair hang in a ponytail like usual, Louise had opted to stuff it inside her hood, fearing that the bright color would make her much more visible to the Pseudogiant's primitive brain. Their intent had been to observe the giant, and move when it was most opportune.

The situation had changed, however.

A pair of binoculars pressed to her face, Siesta observed the inside of the building with the furnaces. There appeared to be a fair number of individuals gathered within the building itself. Even though the large double door entrance to the furnace building allowed her a good view of what was going on inside, there was no way to get an accurate count on the number of people. They moved about far too much, and the interior was much too dark.

There was no way to be completely sure of their affiliation, but Siesta was sure from their black trench coats and balaclavas that they were certainly…

"Bandits," Siesta almost spat the word out. "What the hell are the bandits doing here?"

Louise sighed, her eyes continuing to scan over the compound. The fog had cleared for the most part, and the Pseudogiant was worryingly absent from view. Spartacus and his group of stalkers was easily visible from their position, but were invisible to the bandits. Most of them crouched behind a low circular building that would have acted as a sort of gatehouse during another time, while others hid behind stray vehicles and various other pieces of debris. The Ranger Station was full of objects suitable for cover, luckily for the stalkers.

They had spotted Petruha having a quiet yet heated discussion with Spartacus. He had arrived much earlier than the girls, and had thus far seemed unsuccessful in convincing Spartacus that there was a Pseudogiant lurking about the area. It appeared the stalkers were planning an ambush of sorts for the bandits, which wasn't that unusual.

Bandits and stalkers didn't particularly get along.

Siesta bit down on her lip at the thought of the friendly stalkers in the area, even though she was sure they wouldn't be sticking around for very long once they actually laid eyes on the Pseudogiant.

The girls were jolted to attention when gunfire erupted below. The stalkers had opened fire, sending any bandits that were in the open scattering for cover. Louise gawked, seeing an unfortunate bandit that had been standing near the large doorway of the furnace building slump to the ground.

It hadn't hit her as hard as she thought it would, but she realized she had just seen somebody die for the first time. Somebody that hadn't been previously zombified, at least.

Her eyes were locked on the body with morbid curiosity. Her stomach felt sick, she was sure she could see blood leaking out onto the concrete floor. The bandits didn't take long to return fire, escalating the cacophony of gunfire to a new level. It was almost overwhelming. There was far too much noise. She couldn't imagine what a full-scale war with weapons like these would sound like.

Louise gawked again, seeing a stalker fall. He writhed on the ground, screaming in agony as blood oozed from his wounds. She couldn't take this. People were dying and she was just lying on a roof watching as if it were some kind of play. A glance at Siesta told Louise that she had seen her fair share of things like this. Her face was a mask as she continued to observe through her binoculars.

Before either of the girls could do anything more, the Pseudogiant chose now to make its presence known. The building that sat next to the multi-story building was significantly shorter, while at the same time being much taller than the one Louise and Siesta were on. Its walls were mostly glass, and had a few large garage doors to allow the entry of vehicles.

One such door was wedged halfway open. The Pseudogiant flew through the opening with the top of its head clipping the bottom of the garage door, leaving a noticeable dent. It let out a furious roar, gaining the attention of nearly every person in the Ranger Station.

The gunfire came to an abrupt halt as everyone observed the giant with horror. Then the call drifted out across the Ranger Station.

"_Pseudogiant!_"

A few less experienced bandits opened fire on the beast out of fear. The giant roared again, charging headfirst in the direction the pain was coming from, ignoring the stalkers altogether. It cared not of the bullets tearing into its body. The Pseudogiant charged into the furnace building, making its entrance through a wall rather than the more logical main entrance.

"Oh my god!" Louise cried, watching as the Pseudogiant began to wreak havoc. "W-what are we going to do? Can all of these people together kill it?"

"Maybe. I… I don't know," Siesta told the pinkette. She pointed down to the stalkers. "Look. Spartacus and his guys are leaving."

Louise followed the ex-maid's finger, finding that the stalkers were hastily making their retreat. A few stalkers still lay on the ground, having expired during the brief exchange of fire with the bandits.

"The smart thing to do would be to follow them," Louise huffed nervously.

"Yes, it would," Siesta nodded, shooting Louise a look. "But we're not that smart, are we? Get ready. The giant is distracted, we have to move soon because those bandits aren't going to last very long."

Louise silently nodded, rising to a crouched position and grabbing up her AK. She chambered a round, making sure the weapon was ready to fire. Even if these bandits may have been the less than reputable types, she prayed for their souls, and that they would be a sufficient distraction to keep the Pseudogiant away.

The stage was set for them to move on the tank of gas and make their escape, but of course, something had to muck everything up.

"Whoa!" Siesta remarked, pointing with her binoculars still pressed to her face. "What the hell is going on over there?"

Louise followed Siesta's finger yet again. In front of the multi-story building, they could both clearly see bolts of green electricity arcing through the air in a localized area. A green oval formed in the air, starting off as a mere dot and quickly expanding in size.

"Shit! No way!" Siesta gawked. "That's… that's it! That's what brought me here! Holy shit!"

Siesta found the binoculars snatched from her grasp. Louise brought the device to her eyes, observing the oval much more closely. If this was a way out of here, it certainly had some great timing.

As it turned out, the oval's intention was not to take somebody from the Zone and bring them somewhere else. It was the exact opposite. Siesta watched through squinted eyes as a person was clearly spat out in a heap.

Louise's eyes went wide behind the binoculars. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The person stirred quickly, the volume of the nearby gunfire likely rousing them. Siesta attempted to snatch the binoculars back, but found her hands being slapped away. She clicked her tongue, and resorted to squinting uselessly. She watched as the person quickly got on their feet, wary of the ridiculous fight occurring very nearby.

The person was distinctly female, and wore a flowing black mantle similar to the one Louise had worn when she had first come to the Zone. The person wasted no time in standing around, it only took a moment for her to disappear into the safety of the multi-story building.

Siesta finally snatched her binoculars back, glaring harshly.

"Was that person wearing an Academy uniform? I couldn't really tell because some pink-haired _asshole_ wouldn't give me my binoculars back."

Louise returned the glare. "They were."

"Well? Did you know who it was then?"

"I… I think… I'm not sure actually," Louise admitted, seemingly with some difficulty. "I was… um, shaking too much."

Siesta groaned in frustration. "We don't have time for this!"

The ex-maid stared as Louise was suddenly on her feet, quickly moving for the edge of the roof. There was a cargo truck left derelict next to the garages, allowing them an easy way onto and off of the building's roof.

"Hey! Wait! Where the hell are you going!?"

"I've got to go help that person!" Louise returned, turning to face the stalker.

"What!?"

"Oh come on!" Louise growled angrily. "You helped me didn't you? This is the same thing! I can't just leave somebody that's just been thrown into the same situation as myself! Not if I can help them!"

"But there's a fucking _Pseudogiant_!"

Louise turned away, having had enough. "It doesn't matter!" She jumped down from the roof, landing on top of the truck's cab, before hopping to the ground.

"No - Louise! Shit!" Siesta yelled, finding that Louise was not stopping for her words. She had wanted to say that the person would most likely be completely fine if they remained hidden away in the large building. The ex-maid quickly found herself following in Louise's tracks, her worry for her companion's well-being greater than her desire to retrieve the Perin B3.

Louise flew across the compound as fast as her legs could carry her. The gunfire inside the furnace building was hectic and overwhelming. The furious roars of the Pseudogiant were still audible, but only barely so. She was also sure she could hear human screams of horror.

_Those poor souls… Sure they're bandits, but still…_

The Pseudogiant burst forth from a wall, snarling and stomping the ground. Louise froze, seeing the creature bleeding all over from what must have been over a hundred gunshot wounds by now. The creature did not register her existence. Instead, it appeared to be circling around the building for a different angle of attack.

Louise swiftly entered the multi-story building, her Kalashnikov shouldered and ready. There didn't appear to be anybody in the vicinity of the stairwell. Siesta didn't take long to stomp in behind her, the Mosin ready for action.

"I can't believe you," Siesta growled, drawing a glare from the pinkette. "Seriously, we're going to miss our chance to get out of here! We'll be killed!"

"You don't exactly inspire confidence, you know."

"I'm not trying to! I'm too pissed off to do that!" After a short glaring contest, Siesta sighed. "Whatever then. Let's just look for… whoever this person is and we'll go from there."

"Right."

They moved forwards, intent on beginning their search with the ground floor. However, it seemed their search would be quite short. They both froze at the clops of two shoes hitting the floor behind them. Swiftly turning around with weapons raised, Louise was greeted with a troubling sight. Her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets as her jaw dropped.

Flaming red hair, dark skin, and enormous breasts.

It was none other than Kirche von Zerbst standing in the room with them, her wand raised at the pair. She must have levitated down from the landing above. No words were exchanged, and from the deadly serious look on Kirche's face, Louise was willing to bet she hadn't recognized her yet.

Louise then idly realized that this was the perfect chance to get rid of the person who had bullied her so much throughout her time at the Academy. She had a gun. Spells were not faster than bullets. Nobody would ever know. Of course, as much as she loathed Kirche, she wasn't going to shoot her.

An explosion outside was easily heard above the gunfire, causing the three occupants of the room to flinch.

Siesta was first to lower her weapon, quite slowly. She took her trigger hand off of the rifle altogether, holding it up as if to say she meant no harm. Louise followed suit.

"I… I don't know who you people are," Kirche began, lowering her wand, though she still looked completely ready to flick out a spell at a moment's notice. "But I would greatly appreciate it if… if…"

Louise's stomach twisted in a knot as Kirche looked her straight in the eyes. The red-head's eyes narrowed, and Louise paled.

Oh no. She was going to recognize her.

Kirche suddenly approached Louise very swiftly, causing Siesta to move to raise her weapon. Kirche pulled back the hood from Louise's head, causing her bright pink hair to spring out like it was under pressure. In any other situation, Siesta would have laughed wholeheartedly at the sight.

"Louise?" Kirche asked, cupping Louise's face in her hands. "Louise… is… is that really you? What's happened to your face? It's-"

Kirche's hands were quickly swiped away by Louise's free hand as she glared. "Do you know how long it took me to get all of my hair to stay inside that hood?"

"It is you!" Kirche exclaimed, instantly drawing Louise into a bone crushing hug.

From her position between Kirche's breasts, Louise gawked. Was Kirche actually happy to see her? Why in the world would she be happy to see her? They hated each other! The hug was also becoming incredibly awkward for Louise, being that her face being planted right in the taller girl's bosom. The bandaged portion of her face flared in pain.

Siesta observed with interest, raising an eyebrow at the sight. Perhaps this was one of Louise's friends from school?

Louise pried herself away from the Germanian girl, her glare unwavering. Kirche looked confused at the action, hurt almost. The pinkette had deduced that if Kirche was any bit happy to see her, it was only because she could now begin to bully her once again.

"What do you think you're playing at, Zerbst?" Louise hissed. Kirche had opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of another explosion drifting through the air cut her off.

"Listen," Siesta suddenly interjected, gaining the attention of the two mages. "You guys can make out later. There are more important things to worry about right now."

Louise glared at the stalker, before her glare returned to Kirche. "Indeed. There are much more pressing matters right now. We can talk about _us_ later."

Kirche looked between the two girls as they both approached a window near the entrance. They crouched down close to each other, pointing and commenting quietly. As for Kirche, she quite literally had no idea what was going on. One minute she was walking along one of the outer walls of the Academy to get some air, the next, everything was black and she had the distinct sensation of falling. She couldn't clearly remember what had happened, it was all too fuzzy.

She did, however, distinctly remember there being a bright green flash.

She observed the building around her. It didn't look like a building that would belong in Halkeginia, the walls, the floor, even the ceiling were all odd. It also all looked incredibly old and neglected.

There was also the matter of the ridiculous amount of gunfire outside. She had heard plenty of muskets fired before, but such a volume of fire would require hundreds of musketeers. Although the sounds of the guns seemed to be waning, it was still incredibly loud.

Just where in the world was she? Why was Louise here with some strange woman?

"Hey, listen," Kirche addressed, swiftly approaching the stalkers crouched before the window. "Just what exactly is going on? One minute I'm at school, and the next I'm here in a… God it sounds like a warzone out there."

Louise only seemed inclined to glare at the red-head. Siesta sighed. Perhaps they weren't friends then. She opened her mouth to explain, but held her tongue when the gunfire came to a quick end. It became deathly silent.

"Oh no," Siesta groaned. "That's definitely not good."

"What do you mean?" Kirche asked, crouching down near Siesta. "Why is that not good?"

"Okay, okay," Siesta breathed, eyeing the red-head. "Quick explanation. We're in here. There's a shitload of bandits with guns in that building right there, and there's this Pseudogiant trying to kill all of them. In the building behind that building, there's this thing we absolutely have to get. So as you can you can probably imagine this puts us in quite a dilemma."

"Right," Kirche said slowly, not particularly understanding what she'd been told. "I… uh. I see."

"Do you think they've killed it?" Louise asked hopefully, trying her best to ignore Kirche's presence. "I mean, the gunfire stopped. So they probably killed it, right?"

Siesta scoffed. "No way. All of those bandits are dead."

"What!?" Louise exclaimed. "But there were well over a dozen of them!"

"Yeah, and now there's well over a dozen dead bandits in that building."

"I don't believe that."

"They're all dead. I promise you."

Louise sighed. She'd obviously much rather if the giant were the one dead. "Should we move?"

Siesta winced, looking indecisive. "I don't know. Honestly. Let's just… wait for a minute."

Louise stared into the furnace building, unable to make anything out. It was too dark inside the building, and it had become far too quiet now. If the bandits were still alive, they'd surely be making some sort of noise. Then again, if the Pseudogiant were still alive it would likely be doing the same.

Louise felt a poke at her shoulder. She glanced, spying Kirche.

"What?"

"What is that you're carrying? What is that you're _wearing_?"

Louise groaned, not wanting to interact with Kirche in any sense of the word. "It's a gun that I'm carrying." She purposefully ignored the comment about her attire.

"What? That doesn't even look like a gun," Kirche pointed to Siesta's Mosin rifle. "That looks like a gun. What you've got there just looks… weird."

The pinkette glared. "What are you on about? Of course my gun looks like it's a gun. Look!" Louise held up the AKS-74U, pointing at the end of the muzzle brake. "See? This is the bit where the bullets come out!"

"But what is this for?" Kirche asked, pointing to the AK's magazine. "It just seems unnecessary."

"Will you two shut the fuck up?" Siesta interrupted, gaining glares from the mages. "This isn't really the time to be arguing about whose gun looks more like a gun. They're both fucking guns!"

Louise opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off when Kirche cried out in horror.

"Founder above! What is that thing!?"

Both Siesta and Louise's heads quickly snapped to look through the window. They gawked in horror.

The Pseudogiant was very much alive.

It lumbered out though a gaping hole in the side of the furnace building, looking absolutely ragged. The creature's body was covered with gunshot wounds, scorch marks, and was missing sizable chunks of flesh in many areas, the most notable being on top of its head, where bone had become visible.

Worst of all, Siesta found herself staring directly into its eyes. It could see her.

"How in the bloody hell is that thing alive!?" Louise swore, quickly shifting her AK from semi to full-automatic.

The beast let out a primal roar as it began its advance.

"Oh fuck no!" Siesta shouted, smashing the barrel of her M91/30 through the window and letting off a shot. The bullet impacted right on the Pseudogiant's face, seemingly having little to no effect. Louise decided to give her weapon a try, moving to stand in front of the door way. She let off the entire magazine in full automatic. The creature did not stop.

Kirche was shocked at the volume of fire that had come from such a small weapon. Her ears rang painfully, but she had no time to contemplate any possible lasting damage to her hearing.

"Run! Run!" Siesta cried, quickly on her feet and running. Louise and Kirche both eagerly followed behind as the ex-maid darted into a nearby room. Siesta approached a window, smashing it out with the butt of her rifle. "Quick! Through the window!"

Siesta hit the ground running, closely followed by Kirche. Louise vaulted through the window last, just as the distinct sounds of the main entrance being made much larger reached her ears. She followed as Siesta veered, making a bee-line towards the furnace building. They quickly reached the cover of the large building, hearing the frustrated roars of the Pseudogiant drifting across the compound.

They had lost it, for now. That seemed to have made the creature quite angry.

"Shit," Siesta breathed quietly, seeing the sheer amount of death and destruction inside the building. Only one furnace remained standing, while the others had been reduced to heaps of twisted metal. Numerous Pseudogiant sized holes dotted the walls, and there were bodies absolutely everywhere.

"God…" Kirche covered her mouth, seeing the gruesome state of the bodies. Bandits had been crushed, thrown, torn apart, and maimed in ways the Germanian hadn't even realized were possible.

Siesta turned to Louise. "I told you they were all dead."

The pinkette glared, her face pale at the sight of the dead as she reloaded. "Yes, I believe I've noticed."

They all jumped when the sound of a wall being smashed reached their ears. Carefully observing through a nearby hole in the wall, they watched as the Pseudogiant emerged from the multi-story building through a hole it had made where a window had used to be. It grunted, ignorant of the girl's whereabouts. It stomped away, making its way around the furnace building.

Louise gritted her teeth. The creature was going to end up right in their way for sure. Could it possibly know what they were here for? She certainly hoped not. Besides, it was too stupid for that, right?

"Well," Louise began, swallowing. She tried her best to keep her eyes off of the dead bandits, especially the ones with exposed innards. "What do we do now?"

"Uh… wait for it to go to sleep?" Siesta offered, smiling sheepishly. Louise and Kirche both eyed her flatly. She sighed. "Right, right. Well… I don't really know. This is only the second time I've ever seen one of these things."

"Well, what did you do then?" Kirche asked, attempting to be productive, much to Louise's ire. "How did you kill it?"

The trio jumped as a crash followed by the Pseudogiant's familiar roar came from somewhere outside. Siesta looked away from the mages, furrowing her brow.

"We didn't kill it. We couldn't. All we had were rifles."

"Great," Louise breathed, feeling hopeless.

Siesta glared. "Don't give me that! Didn't you see it just now? How does something take that much punishment and just keep going?"

Louise opened her mouth to respond with a snappish comment, but decided against it at the last second. Siesta was certainly right about the Pseudogiant's durability.

"We could use magic," Kirche offered, quickly gaining the attention of the two stalkers.

Louise narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I can use my magic against it. That way it'll be distracted while you two do whatever it is you have to do and get out of here."

Siesta looked surprised as she processed what Kirche had said. "Wait. You want to go out there and distract that thing? You've been here for like ten minutes, and you want to do something like that?"

Kirche nodded seriously, while Louise groaned in disbelief.

"That is insane! Why would you even _want_ to do that?"

The Germanian sighed. She brandished her wand, feeling her reasoning was perfectly sound. "I have my magic, so I'll be fine." She turned on her heel, stiffly marching outdoors. Louise and Siesta both gawked at Kirche's back, before turning to face each other.

"Who the hell is this girl? She's pretty confident in her damn magic!" Siesta barked, flabbergasted.

Louise pinched the bridge of her nose. Despite her feelings towards Kirche, she had to do something. "I've… listen, I-I-I've got to go help her before she gets herself squashed. Just… get the nerve gas, o-okay? I'll bring her to the Skadovsk after you escape."

Siesta remained silent for a moment as she glanced around the room, thinking hard. Her eyes settled on a particular body not too far away. She looked back to Louise, who seemed rather desperate.

"No way."

Louise's desperation quickly changed to frustration. "What do you mean 'no way'!? Honestly, there's no time to argue over something like this! We've-"

"No," Siesta said firmly, silencing the pinkette. "There's no way in hell I'm just gonna leave you here!"

"Siesta, please! This is not-"

"Louise I'm not leaving you!" Siesta barked, glaring. She glanced over her shoulder, spying the body she had noticed earlier again. "Go and help her, I've… got an idea, I think. We're gonna kill that thing."

Siesta watched as Louise slowly backed away from her, shaking her head slightly in disbelief.

"I sincerely hope your idea is nothing short of brilliant, Siesta."

Louise turned away, jogging in the same direction Kirche had gone. Watching her go, Siesta breathed deeply. Despite their differences, Siesta was quickly beginning to think of Louise as a friend. She swiftly approached the body she had been eyeing earlier, trying her best to ignore its lack of legs. The black and red color scheme of the stalker's suit stuck out amongst the sea of black trench coats.

Siesta narrowed her eyes. What was a member of Duty doing in Zaton?

Outside, Louise easily found Kirche standing out in the open. The Pseudogiant was visible at the other end of the compound, currently trying to force its way into the building she and Siesta had been spying on the bandits from. It hadn't noticed either of them yet as it pounded on the garage doors.

"Kirche," Louise called quietly, moving to stand next to the redhead.

Kirche eyed Louise with a small amount of disbelief. "Louise, what are you doing?"

Louise pointed to the Pseudogiant. "I'm going to help you."

"Where is the other girl then? Is she escaping?"

Wincing, Louise shook her head. "Not quite, actually. Sh-she's got a plan so… don't worry."

Kirche shifted on her feet, sighing. "Louise, listen… about back at the Academy…"

"This isn't the time, Kirche. I've already told you."

"But I-"

"It can wait," Louise ground out, cutting the Germanian off.

Louise's final statement had been too loud, it seemed. The Pseudogiant whirled around to face the girls, staring intently with only one good eye.

"Uh-oh," Louise squeaked, raising her AK to bear. "I-I was ready for this a minute ago, but n-now I'm not so sure."

Kirche smirked, raising her wand. "It'll be fine, I mean look at it. How much more can it take?" Despite the confidence in her voice, Kirche suddenly had the sinking feeling that she was about to regret saying those words.

The ground shaking beneath its massive hand-like feet, the Pseudogiant charged full-throttle towards the girls. Louise held her breath as she let the AK spew bullets in short bursts, letting them last longer and longer as the giant neared. Kirche curiously observed the weapon operate for a moment before beginning her attack.

"In ex dest flame, _Fireball!_"

A melon sized ball of fire formed at the tip of Kirche's wand, instantly rocketing towards the charging giant. It hit the Pseudogiant head on, exploding and engulfing the creature in flames.

While this did have the effect of setting the Pseudogiant on fire and making it rather angry, it did not slow the mutant's advance. Thus, Kirche and Louise quickly discovered the only thing more terrifying than an angry Pseudogiant, was an angry Pseudogiant that was on fire.

Kirche gawked while Louise ejected her empty magazine. Reaching for a new one inside her coat, she realized that the Pseudogiant was certainly going to flatten the both of them if they didn't move now.

"We've got to-" Louise began, moving to run. She stopped, finding Kirche's arms around her waist from behind preventing her from moving. She squirmed. "What do you think you're doing!? We're going to die!"

Louise was quickly proven wrong as they both shot straight up into the air, just in time for the Pseudogiant the pass underneath them. The pinkette eyed the arms that held her, seeing a wand clenched tightly in one. The spell was easy enough to recognize.

Levitation.

Locking a new magazine into her weapon, Louise chambered a round and let loose on the Pseudogiant once more with a yell of anger. Bullets slammed into the creature's flesh and tore up the ground around its feet as it ran, confused. It circled the floating pair of humans, unsure of what to do.

Louise ejected the emptied magazine, simply letting it fall to the ground about twenty feet below. She loaded another.

"Die, die!" Louise screamed in anger, the barrel of her AK smoking as she squeezed off more rounds. "Just die! Why won't you just _die_!?"

"I've got to set us down somewhere!" Kirche shouted over the AK's automatic fire. "Before my levitation wears off!"

"O-on a roof, or something!" Louise replied as she ejected yet another spent magazine. The Kalashnikov's handguard was now becoming quite warm to the touch, but not uncomfortably so. "Just somewhere where it can't reach us! I'm willing to wager that it can't jump very well!"

Kirche nodded as they gently floated towards the building Louise knew to have the tank of nerve gas waiting inside. Just as their feet touched the sloped surface of the roof, Louise found herself tackled flat to the shingles by the redheaded Germanian.

The air above them_ wooshed_ as an undoubtedly large object passed over them, crashing into the roof's peak. Louise gawked, seeing a large section of concrete now sticking out of the roof.

"Did it just _throw_ that!?" Louise screeched, quickly scrambling to her feet.

"Yes!" Kirche yelled back, flinging another fireball towards the Pseudogiant. Louise fired on the mutant as it came barreling towards them, slamming into the wall beneath them. "This isn't working!"

"Don't you know any other spells than 'fireball'? I thought you were good at this!" Louise barked, emptying the final few rounds out of her weapon. The giant pounded furiously on the wall with its own head, desperately trying to bring the humans down from their elevated position.

"Of course I do, but they'll take more time to prepare!" Kirche shot back, glaring. "My willpower isn't going to last either! I don't know about you but I had an entire day of magical based classes before I showed up here!"

Louise went for another magazine, freezing when only the follower topped the magazine she had retrieved instead of live cartridges. She dropped it in panic, fishing round inside her coat for another magazine. There was only one, which was empty as well. They were the magazines she had used fighting bloodsuckers. She felt like an idiot for having forgotten to fill them with ammunition.

"Kirche I'm out!"

"What!? What do you mean!? Out of what!?"

Louise let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't have any more bullets!"

"You've got to be kidding!" Kirche cried, stumbling as the building shook under the Pseudogiant's attacks.

Thinking fast, Louise remembered the familiar weight hanging off her back. She held out the AK for Kirche to take. "Hold this for a moment!"

Kirche accepted the weapon, confused. "What are you doing now!?"

Louise said nothing, slinging the double-barreled shotgun off her back and into her hands. She leaned out over the edge of the roof, letting off two shells in quick succession right into the top of the Pseudogiant's head. The giant seemed unfazed, continuing to destroy more of the wall. The following impacts caused Louise to lose her footing. She knew she would have fallen right over the edge if Kirche hadn't grasped her arm with an iron grip.

The pinkette assisted her savior, scrambling back from the edge of the roof. "Oh Founder that was too close!"

"This bloody thing is going to bring down this entire building before we can kill it!" Kirche growled, making ready to cast another spell. She stopped in her tracks, hearing Siesta's voice drift towards them.

"Hey! Watch out!"

The mages spied Siesta standing in one of the many gaping holes in the furnace building, a bandolier of something looped around her arm. They watched as the stalker threw a fist-sized object towards the raging Pseudogiant. It landed near the mutant's feet as Louise and Kirche both scrambled away from the edge of the roof, moving to take cover on the other side of the peak.

An explosion erupted from beneath the Pseudogiant, causing it to cease its attack on the building.

Grinning wildly, Siesta pulled another RGD-5 grenade off the bandolier. She ripped the pin out, letting the spoon fling off to start the fuse before letting the grenade fly. Before the giant could recover from the first grenade, the next exploded, and then another, and then another. Siesta threw grenades until there were only three left on the bandolier. Smoke and dust obscured the Pseudogiant from view.

Siesta knew that the giant could be already dead. For all she knew it had died from the first grenade. Nevertheless, she awkwardly pulled the three pins from the remaining grenades, giving the entire bandolier a hefty throw.

The resulting detonation was obviously much larger than any of the previous explosions. It was also much more satisfying, in Siesta's opinion at least. It would be even more satisfying if it had actually killed the Pseudogiant.

The ex-maid kept her rifle ready to fire and her legs ready to run at a moment's notice. If the mutant were still living, it probably wouldn't be very happy with her. As the smoke cleared, the hulking mass of the giant became more and more visible, and from what she could see, it wasn't moving. The Pseudogiant was revealed to now be mostly a heap of shredded meat and spilling organs. She felt an immense feeling of relief course through her body.

She had killed it. She had killed a Pseudogiant! If only she could write home to her mother about this.

Siesta emerged from the furnace building, laughing in mostly disbelief. "Yeah! How do you _fuck-ing _like me now!?"

As Siesta approached the smouldering remains of the Pseudogiant, she noticed Kirche and Louise both gently floating down from the roof. She nodded in satisfaction.

"That actually went way better than I expected."

Louise scoffed, holding her magazine-less AK loosely. "You couldn't have blown it up a little sooner? I used up all of my ammunition on it."

Siesta laughed. "Seriously? You've got no five-forty-five left?"

"Not one."

"Alright, well," Siesta began, sparing Kirche a quick glance. She pointed back towards the furnace building. "One of the guys in there had an AK like yours; see what you can scrounge up, 'kay? I'll go grab the nerve gas and then we can get out of here."

Louise nodded, splitting off from the ex-maid. Confused, Kirche looked from Louise, to Siesta, and the back to Louise. If anything, she felt like she had been forgotten about. Sighing, she decided to follow after Louise.

Entering the furnace building, Kirche found Louise crouched over a mangled body looking ready to vomit at any moment.

"I'm sorry about this," Louise muttered, prying a Kalashnikov rifle from the dead bandit's hands. Siesta was right in that it was like hers, but only vaguely. It was longer, had a wooden butt stock and the magazine seemed to be curved differently. She removed the magazine from the weapon, stripping a round off the top to examine it. Already, she could tell it wasn't right.

_7.62 x 39mm_

This Kalashnikov was in a different caliber, it seemed. Louise groaned, giving Kirche a glance as she approached.

"Hey, this gun is in a different caliber than mine so I can't use the bullets, do you want it?"

Kirche eyed the weapon, confused for a moment. She shook her head slowly. "No… that's quite alright, thanks. I don't think I need a… uh, a gun."

"Suit yourself," Louise shrugged, leaving the weapon lying on the floor as she stood. She peered around the room, hoping to find other weapons similar to hers. It only took her a short moment to spy one, a full length AK-74 lying broken next to the dead Duty member. She eyed the body's lack of legs and shuddered.

How lovely.

She swiftly approached the body, vaguely aware of Kirche following her around the room. She unlocked the magazine from the destroyed Kalashnikov, pocketing it after verifying the rounds would work in her weapon. She reluctantly moved closer to the body to loot more magazines.

Taking these things from the dead felt kind of wrong. The fact that it was completely necessary eased Louise's guilt, though only a little.

"You shouldn't need a gun either, Louise," Kirche muttered, her arms crossed.

"What are you on about?" Louise asked snappily.

"You've got your magic, don't you?"

"My magic?" Louise laughed bitterly, refusing to look up from her task. She began muttering. "Yes, a lot of good my 'magic' has done me. I don't even have my wand."

Kirche groaned, pinching at the bridge of her nose. "Listen, can we talk now?"

"Fine, start talking."

Growing frustrated, Kirche shot her arms out to her sides in an exasperated manner. "Louise I thought you were dead!"

Seeing that Louise didn't really react to her statement, Kirche shook her head and heaved a ragged sigh of disbelief.

"Everybody thinks you're dead!"

"Good," Louise said simply, pocketing the final magazine.

"Good? How can you possibly say something like that?" Kirche asked. The pink haired girl before her already seemed to be quite different from the Louise she had known. Then again, it was reasonable to assume Louise was just miffed at her presence.

Louise suddenly shot up to her feet, glaring. "Oh please! Quit acting like you care Zerbst. If you're-"

"I do care!" Kirche interrupted, returning the glare in full force. "I'm sorry!"

Slightly taken aback, Louise narrowed her eyes. She felt her agitation quickly boiling over into anger. "You're _what_?"

"I said I am _sorry_!" Kirche repeated. "I'm sorry for everything I've done! I'm sorry for everything I've ever said. You wouldn't believe how bad I've felt because of how I treated you! It was… a horrible thing to do. Nobody deserved that, least of all you."

Louise was silent for a moment, her glare unwavering. "Oh you're sorry? That's it? _You're sorry_!? Is that just supposed to make everything better now? Am I just supposed to forget everything you've done!? You're sorry!?"

"Louise I-"

"No! I don't want to bloody hear it!" Louise shouted, her hands clenching her Kalashnikov tightly. Her face was steadily growing more and more red. It was a quite familiar sight for the Germanian. "You… just.. I-I-I just…"

Kirche watched with raised eyebrows as Louise screwed her eyes shut, shaking all over. Was she going to start crying?

"J-j-j… ju-jus… j-j," Louise took in a breath of air, and screamed. "Just… fuck you, Kirche! _Fuck_! _You_!"

Kirche gaped, in a state of shock. Had Louise actually just said something like that? The redhead's initial shock quickly wore off as bouts of sincere laughter came from nearby. The two mages turned, seeing Siesta standing by a hole in the wall with the tank of nerve gas held in her hands. Her laughter uncontrollable, she crouched down and used the tank for support.

Louise sneered at the ex-maid. "A-and what do you think you're laughing at? How much of that did you hear!?"

"Well I heard enough," Siesta replied, still laughing. "I didn't think you even said things like that, such a dirty mouth!"

Louise scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Oh like you're one to talk!"

Placing the tank on the floor, Siesta waved dismissively. "Whatever. Did you find anything useful?"

Sighing, Louise nodded. She pointed to the deceased Duty member. "This man had more than enough ammunition. That guy over there had a gun like mine, but the bullets were different."

Siesta 'ahh'd' in understanding, striding towards the body. "Was it seven-six-two by thirty-nine?"

"Uh… yes, I believe it was."

Siesta bit her lip, before shrugging. She crouched next to the body, inspecting the weapon. "It would certainly be a shame to leave it here. The gun looks like it's in good condition. I think I'll take it." She began stripping the body of any ammunition she could find.

Louise turned back to Kirche, scratching at the bandaged side of her face. She felt a little dirty for having said such a vulgar word to the Germanian. Perhaps Siesta was beginning to rub off on her more than she'd like. However, the anger she had previously felt had actually decreased significantly.

"Listen, I probably shouldn't have said… that."

Kirche waved her off. "It's fine. I know I deserve a lot worse than that."

Opening her mouth to respond, Louise paused in thought. Siesta seemed to be always able to put the small arguments and heated exchanges behind her. Maybe she could do the same. Then again, how Kirche had treated her during her time at the Academy was a little more than a mere argument. She had felt like she was in hell at the time.

Perhaps her time in the Zone had changed her perspective on how horrible life could actually be.

"I think I'm willing to try and put our past behind us, Kirche," Louise began, averting her eyes from the Germanian's. "I-I mean, I can't just outright forgive you for what you've done, but… l-l-like I said, let's just put it behind us."

Kirche, rather surprised at Louise's sudden change of heart, nodded with a slight smile. "I'd like that. If there's any way I can begin to make up for it, I'm willing to do it."

Scoffing, Louise rolled her eyes. "Well, volunteering to distract the Pseudogiant was actually a brilliant start, if I'm honest. I really can't think of anything to top that."

Kirche laughed lightly, while Louise allowed herself a small smile.

"Actually," Louise began, seeing Siesta approaching with an AKM hanging in one hand, the tank of Perin B3 in the other, and her rifle slung onto her back. She quickly approached the ex-maid, removing tank from her grasp. "You could carry this."

Kirche accepted the tank with a nod, surprised at the sudden weight.

Shrugging at Louise's actions, Siesta approached the Germanian. "Alright, so I can't remember if I introduced myself earlier or not, but I'm Siesta."

Kirche smiled. "Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst, and I am pleased to meet you."

Siesta shot Louise a smirk. "_She's_ certainly polite!"

"What!? I'm polite!"

"You already said 'fuck you' to her. That's not very polite at all."

"S-shut up! That's your fault! You're a bad influence!"

"A bad influence? What are you, like eight years old?" Siesta began, watching the red return to Louise's face with a little amusement. She turned back to Kirche. "I'm sure you've got tons of wonderful questions about where you are, and what exactly is happening. I'll fill you in during the walk."

"A-ah. I'd appreciate it," Kirche watched as Siesta started off. She gave Louise a glance, who seemed to be waiting for her to move. "I'm not going to like what she's got to say, am I?"

Louise exhaled through her nose. "Well, I definitely didn't."

* * *

_A/N: Oh my God, long chapter was longer than I expected. I would have split it up but I felt there wasn't a very good place to do so. _

_Ah well, I got the content I wanted in it so I'm satisfied._

_Anyway, I know some of you were expecting Montmorency to show up, but nope. We'll see how Monty-chan is doing once more before this arc is over. She'll play a much larger part during the second arc. _

_And Kirche, hmm…._

_I feel that some of you might not be pleased with her showing up the way she did, but that was how I had planned the third member of their group to show up from the beginning, so I felt I should stick with it. She'll provide some valuable services to the group, such as giving the three of them the ability to fluently speak Ukrainian, and the ability to catch things on fire, a lot. _

_Fun fact: During the initial planning stages of this story, I had originally scripted a teenaged version of Louise's mother to be the one to show up. One of the main points of their interaction would be Louise trying not to let it spill that she was actually her future daughter. But since Karin is so OP in canon-verse, I decided to change that fairly early on. _

_Then again, I may or may not do an omake between each arc, so you might get to actually see that. Along with some other ridiculous characters and situations that just wouldn't fit in the normal story. _

_Long author's note is becoming far too long. It's currently two in the morning as I am writing this after finishing my final edits, so goodnight._

_EDIT: Some minor changes made to this chapter, but nothing particularly major. _


	10. Humble Beginnings X

_Humble Beginnings X_

_Zaton_

_16:03_

"They're seriously not there."

Kirche stumbled, having directed most of her attention at the sky to the point where she had begun walking backwards. She looked to Louise, who was eyeing her flatly over her shoulder, and then back to the sky.

"But… it's impossible. They've got to be around somewhere, you must have just missed them!"

"Kirche…"

Siesta stopped, slightly annoyed. She turned around, cradling her AKM. "You can't just _miss_ the moons. How would that even happen? They're huge. You'd have to be blind or something."

Kirche glared for a moment, but quickly opted to heave a defeated sigh instead.

"Anyway," Siesta continued, motioning to the enormous rusted ship only a dozen meters behind her. "We're literally at the Skadovsk, so let's just get inside and see if we can find Alexander or Grouse."

The stalker swiftly turned away, striding towards the ship with Louise not far behind. After a moment's hesitation, Kirche followed as well. She gripped the tank of nerve gas tightly, afraid to let it so much as touch anything. She had been told that if it were to leak in any way, they'd all be dead.

If one were to ask the Germanian, she thought it was a bit of a weird thing to be carrying around if its contents were so deadly. Even though she had been told it was completely necessary for what they were going to be doing, she wasn't reassured in the least.

She wasn't even sure what exactly it was that needed doing. Siesta was nice enough to explain some basic things to her, such as why she couldn't see the moons, and how the firearms here were much more 'awesome' than the ones developed in Halkeginia, but Kirche had quickly noticed that the dark-haired girl was quite easily sidetracked. Needless to say, very little relevant explaining had actually gotten done.

Siesta approached the door, giving the lever a great heave. It had gotten stuck about halfway, which wasn't surprising given the amount of rust, but it was annoying nonetheless. With a grunt and a few smacks, Siesta freed the lever and set it into the open position, however she hesitated in actually pulling the door open.

Louise watched as Siesta eyed her over her shoulder. She flicked her head towards Kirche. Following suit, Louise glanced over her shoulder at the redhead. It didn't take long for the pinkette to get an idea as to what Siesta might be referring to, although there was no real way to predict what was happening in the her head.

After registering Kirche's confused expression, Louise turned back to Siesta.

"Why do I have to say it?"

Siesta shrugged. "'Cause I want you to."

Louise huffed in annoyance. "I won't."

"You will, though."

"I honestly won't."

Kirche eyed the pair, at a loss. "Have I missed something? What exactly are you two talking about?"

Siesta groaned, shaking her head slightly. "Kirche, your tits are hanging out. Button up your shirt a little."

Kirche's breath hitched in her throat, having not expected that at all. Louise only massaged her temples with a single hand. She had figured Siesta had been thinking something along those lines. However, she didn't see the need to be so ridiculously blunt about it.

"Why exactly should I, uh…" Kirche cast her head downward, staring at her own cleavage. "Do that?"

"It'll attract attention," Siesta quickly reasoned.

Kirche suddenly flashed a cat-like grin towards the ex-maid. She spoke with a hint of teasing in her voice. "Don't tell me you're worried that I'm going to steal all the attention away from you."

Siesta eyed her intently for a moment, bringing Kirche to the edge of being uncomfortable. The stalker shrugged, turning back to the door. "Alright then, don't say I didn't warn you."

Kirche sidled up next to Louise as Siesta pulled the heavy door open. "What does she mean? Why should I bother covering up?"

Louise only huffed lightly, motioning for Kirche to enter ahead of her. Sure, during her time at the Academy Louise had found Kirche's flaunting of her own body rather annoying, closer to dreadfully indecent actually, but it wasn't a big deal. There were women like that everywhere. The pinkette hadn't really realized why Siesta would have wanted to Kirche to cover up, until a thought struck her.

They were the only women around. Literally the _only_ women. Just the three of them. Siesta was quite firm in the fact that she hadn't met another female during her travels in the Zone until Louise had appeared. It had probably been months, maybe even years since any of the men in there had personally seen any exposed cleavage. Louise bit her lip.

This might not end well. She hoped the Skadovsk was rather empty.

It wasn't.

In fact, the Skadovsk was teeming with activity. The bar was absolutely packed, and the din of conversation was very loud. They stood near the entrance, Siesta looking annoyed, Louise looking a little tense, and Kirche curiously eyeing over the place while gripping the tank of Perin B3.

It wasn't long until their presence was noticed, and a wave of silence swept over the bar as everyone just _stared_.

Kirche slowly leaned over to Louise, quite taken aback at the amount of eyes on them. "Why didn't you just say this was going to happen?"

Louise sighed, deciding against responding verbally. She noticed that the silence had passed and conversation had begun once again, conversation that was no doubt about the Skadovsk's newest visitor. Watching, Louise noticed that Siesta was scanning over the faces in the crowd in an attempt to locate either of the two men they were seeking out.

A few more daring stalkers seemed to want to approach the girls, speaking in hushed tones and gesturing towards them. The scowl crossing Siesta's face quickly made them change their mind.

If anybody asked, Siesta hated having too much attention on herself or the people she was with. In the Zone, it brought nothing but trouble. Louise had been an attention grabber for a day or two, but people had quickly become accustomed to her presence. Besides, it wasn't like Louise even had breasts to show off. From what Siesta had heard when eavesdropping on random conversations it had become the general consensus that Louise was around twelve years old.

Louise found Kirche whispering to her once again. "Jeez did you see her face just now? That could have melted iron. I definitely should have just-"

"It's too fucking late now," Siesta growled, cutting the Germanian off without even looking at her. Kirche glared at the back of her head as she continued. "Anyway, let's see if we can find…" Siesta paused. "Oh, never mind. Speak of the devil."

Grouse swiftly approached them through the crowd, looking a little peeved.

"Where the hell have you both been? Owl said you two went alone to get the gas, and then Spartacus and his group come back freaking out about a Pseudogiant in the Ranger Station, and Petruha said you…" Grouse trailed, finally taking notice of the newest addition to Siesta's group. He gawked. "W-who the hell is this!? Where are you finding these damn people!?"

"Is that… You-crane-ian everyone's speaking?" Kirche asked, glancing down at Louise. She then idly commented, "That man looks rather upset about something."

"That's Ukrainian, yes," Louise nodded, observing with a smirk and a roll of her eyes as Siesta began tripping over her words in a vain attempt to get Grouse to listen to her. "There are others like Russian and Belarusian, but right now I honestly can't tell the difference between them."

"I see," Kirche said slowly. Language barriers were a troublesome thing. Perhaps it could be remedied?

* * *

Alexander cast another glance over his shoulder as he walked before turning back to Grouse. They were currently making their way through Zaton in the general direction of the Antenna Complex.

"So, they just showed up with her?"

Grouse nodded, his Remington resting on his shoulder. "Yeah."

"And the same thing happened with Louise? One day Siesta just showed up with her and she was wearing some ridiculous outfit like that?" Alexander asked again.

"Yeah."

Alexander hefted the tank of nerve gas into a new grip, sighing. "That's kind of weird."

Grouse scoffed, eyeing the other man. "It's a little more than 'kind of weird' I think. Something is definitely going on. People just don't show up looking like that in the middle of the Zone."

"And Siesta won't explain anything?"

"Nope," Grouse shook his head. "She just said it was too difficult to explain. Whether that means she just doesn't want to or she doesn't have the vocabulary to do it, I don't know."

Alexander only 'hmm'd' in response, casting another glance behind him at the three girls following a short distance behind. He wondered what the Zone could possibly be up to now.

He chuckled. At least that girl had done her shirt up all the way.

Between the three girls, conversation had been consistent and also quite varied. Siesta had been animatedly explaining various aspects of the Zone, prioritizing things that were currently most relevant such as emissions, mutated creatures, and what they were actually up to concerning the tank of nerve gas. Kirche seemed to take it all in stride, remaining mostly silent while Siesta continued to talk on and on.

Louise thought that perhaps Kirche was still getting over the initial shock of finding out that she was so far from home that she would likely never see it again. Or maybe she just wasn't fond of the idea of constantly being in mortal danger. Louise herself was not fond of either, but as much as she hated to admit it, the weapon in her hands was certainly helping her deal with the latter. She still didn't like the things, but now she felt a certain respect for them.

Either way, Louise thought the Germanian was taking the whole, 'you're in a completely different world where there's no such thing as Nobility and almost everything will try to kill you at some point,' part much better than she had. Kirche always did seem like the adventurous type, she had left Germania to come to school in Tristain after all.

"Wait… you're kidding. It's actually summer here?"

Louise was broken out of her thoughts by Kirche's question. She inwardly scoffed. Were Siesta and Kirche honestly talking about the weather? The weather, of all things!

"Yeah," Siesta nodded. "But you wouldn't think so, huh?"

Kirche shrugged in response. "Well it's not terribly cold, but there is a bit of a nip in the air. It's just a bit of a surprise since it was only the beginning of spring in Halkeginia."

"It's always kind of cold in the Zone," Siesta explained, shrugging. "Nobody knows why."

Louise faintly nodded in agreement, having remained silent for most of the conversation. She didn't feel comfortable with simply hanging around with Kirche all of a sudden. Then again, it wasn't really 'hanging around' that they were doing, but the point remained.

"I see. So what month of summer is it?"

"August."

Kirche stopped in her tracks, her gaze flicking between Louise and Siesta. They both stared back at her.

"Why have you stopped?" Louise asked, slightly agitated. She motioned towards the men who continued to walk on. "Come on. They'll be annoyed if we fall too far behind."

Sighing, Kirche continued her stroll through the Zone. "But what is… August?"

Siesta snorted. "It's a month, obviously."

"Yes, but…"

"They've named the months here differently," Louise cut in, recounting some information she had learned from Siesta during idle conversation aboard the Skadovsk. "Not all of the months have the same amount of days either. The weeks are only seven days long instead of eight, and the days are all named differently. It's a mess of a calendar, I think at least."

"Yeah, but wouldn't somebody from here would think our calendar is weird too?" Siesta posed, drawing a glance from the pinkette. "It's all a matter of perspective!"

Louise huffed, smirking at the ex-maid. "Perspective? I think that's the biggest word I've ever heard you say."

Siesta merely stuck her tongue out at the playful jab while Kirche suppressed a single chuckle. The next few minutes of walking were spent in silence. The rustling and clinking of the group's own equipment were the only things to hear until a few short bursts of automatic fire drifted through the air from quite a ways off. Louise and Kirche were the only ones to flinch and glance about in a brief moment of surprise.

"You know, Louise," Kirche began, trying to grab the pinkette's attention. Louise didn't particularly react, but Kirche knew she could hear her. "After you disappeared… some rather strange things began happening."

That certainly got Louise's attention. She eyed the Germanian with a raised eyebrow. "Strange things? What kind of strange things?"

"What I was told earlier about those, um… anomalies, really got me thinking," Kirche said, noticing that she had now also grabbed Siesta's attention. "After what happened at the summoning circle, the whole place got really weird."

"Really weird?" Siesta asked, intrigued. "Like, how really weird?"

"The ground, it started to crack up. It started off small, but it started spreading. The Professors barred the area from students after it was discovered, but before that, I visited it a few times. The whole place was always ridiculously warm, even in the middle of the night, and… well," Kirche paused, thinking of how she was going to explain the next part. "You know the haze you see sometimes on a really hot summer's day? Something like that was coming out of the cracks, and if you-"

"Oh shit," Siesta swore loudly, cutting Kirche off. The ex-maid rubbed at her forehead, groaning. "Let me guess. If you threw something like, I don't know, a rock or something through it, fire would start shooting everywhere?"

Kirche was silent a moment before responding, thinking briefly on this commoner's distinct lack of manners. "Yes."

Louise was the first to speak, sounding a little uneasy. "That… can't possibly be good."

"I just thought it sounded similar to one of those anomalies you mentioned before."

Suddenly, Louise had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, much worse than the constant one she had since coming to the Zone.

"That's just the beginning, though."

Louise bit her lip. Of course that was only the beginning. Of course it would only get worse. It _always_ got worse.

Siesta, not looking at all pleased about what Kirche had brought to light, eyed the Germanian once again. "Seriously?"

"Alright, well," Kirche began, clearing her throat with a quick 'excuse me'. "Rumors started going around about animals nobody had ever seen before roaming about. It started when the palace messenger was passing through the Academy, and one of the maids overheard him mentioning it to Headmaster Osmond."

The slightly wide-eyed stare she was receiving from Louise silently told her to continue.

"I never actually saw anything like that myself, but apparently these creatures were 'ugly beyond comprehension', or so goes the rumor. It only got worse when one of the first-year students claimed to have seen something so horrible outside her window at night that she left the Academy the next morning."

Kirche swallowed, and then subsequently sighed.

"And then the people started to go missing."

Louise wanted to scream. It couldn't possibly be what she was thinking. It just wasn't feasible.

"I overheard some third-years talking about how one of their friends hadn't been coming to class, or even any meals. I didn't think much of it, until Montmorency started doing the same. Tabitha and I both went to her room to see if she was okay, but she wasn't even there, it hadn't even been touched since the maids had cleaned it."

Silence fell over the three girls once again, but only for a brief moment.

"You've got to be kidding me, right? This is seriously heavy," Siesta growled, pinching at the bridge of her nose. Kirche raised an eyebrow, wondering what weight had to do with anything. "So all of this crazy stuff only began after Louise tried to summon her familiar?"

"Yes," Kirche quickly replied.

"So basically, when Louise tried to summon her familiar, she broke Tristain?"

Louise gawked, feeling like she had been stabbed through the stomach. It seemed Siesta's thoughts had been mirroring her own. "H-hey! What are you saying all of a sudden!? I didn't b-b-break Tristain! Don't say things like that!"

"Wait! No, no," Kirche said, waving her hands in front of herself. "That's not actually what I meant at all."

Siesta didn't seem to hear the Germanian, and instead stopped in her tracks to glare at Louise. "Really? Well it sure sounds like you fucking broke it to me!"

Louise stopped as well, her face growing red. "Shut up! How could you put that on my conscience!? Do you have any idea how that makes me feel!?"

"Well maybe you shouldn't have messed up your stupid-ass summoning spell!"

"Obviously I didn't bloody try to mess up the damn spell!"

"If you two _idiots_ don't mind!" Grouse suddenly called out, having stopped along with Alexander after the brief shouting match had begun. They couldn't understand the context of the argument, but it wasn't the point. "Maybe you should both shut up before every damn Bloodsucker in Zaton hears you!"

Siesta looked away, grumbling under her breath. She reluctantly continued walking, followed closely by Kirche and Louise.

"So… what did that man just say to us?" Kirche asked curiously, seeing as Louise didn't seem inclined to ask Siesta for a translation.

"Well he pretty much just said for us to shut up."

Kirche nodded in understanding. They had been quite loud. "It seems troublesome to have to translate everything for us." She shifted her glance to Louise. "Why didn't you try to do a language spell?"

The words had left Kirche's mouth before she could realize what she was saying. She had momentarily forgotten Louise's lack of any magical instrument, and even if she did have one it wouldn't be much good to her. The Germanian prepared for Louise's verbal wrath with a wince. In the past, she would have roared with laughter at Louise's red face and teary eyes, but recent events had certainly changed things.

Louise only glared. "Oh that's a wonderful idea. I already told you I don't have my wand, remember?" She turned away. "Besides… I'd probably just blow Siesta and myself to pieces if I tried."

Kirche exhaled, giving Louise a look of apology. She had truly been expecting much more than that. Like herself, it was likely Louise had already had a long day and simply didn't have the energy to keep being angry after just shouting at Siesta. She had already noticed that Louise looked rather worn out and sleep deprived.

Siesta gave Louise a weird look. "Okay, why exactly would you blow us up?"

"It doesn't matter," Louise muttered weakly, refusing to meet the ex-maid's eyes.

Kirche found Siesta looking to her for some sort of explanation, but she only flapped her hand dismissively with a slight shake of her head. It was obvious Louise hadn't explained to the ex-maid that she was unable to perform the simplest of spells.

"So a 'language spell'," Siesta inquired, her curiosity piqued. "What does that actually do?"

"It's pretty self-explanatory," Kirche explained. "It just lets you learn a different language in the span of about five seconds or so."

Siesta gawked. "What? Seriously? Can you do that?"

"Well," Kirche began, biting at her lip. "I suppose I could try it. I mean, that's how I speak Tristainian so well."

"Do it up! Come on! Right now!" Siesta urged, growing excited. She was now practically bouncing on her heels.

"It isn't a good time for something like that," Louise grumbled before Kirche could speak up.

Siesta pouted. "Why not? Don't you want to be able to speak Ukrainian?"

Kirche observed the two in confusion. Hadn't Siesta just been rather angry at Louise? Looking at her face, it was like she had never even been upset in the first place. _What a weird person_, she thought. Louise was silent for a moment, and Kirche could tell she was likely thinking the same thing.

"While I would like that, do you really think that it's a good idea for people to know about _us_?" Louise motioned to herself and Kirche. "If Kirche does the spell, Grouse and Alexander are definitely going to start asking questions if we suddenly start speaking their language. If people find out that we're mages it'll obviously attract all the wrong kinds of attention. If we're actually going to do that spell, it should be done discreetly."

Kirche nodded in agreement. "Besides, spells like those require a lot of preparation and cost more willpower than I think I can spare right now."

Siesta 'ahh'd', looking a little sheepish. "Yeah, you've got some good points. I didn't think of that. I got a little excited for a second there." She continued when a thought struck her. "But what do you think is going to happen when we get in a fight with the Bloodsuckers? What's Kirche supposed to do? Stand there and look pretty?"

Kirche let out a small laugh. "While I feel that I could do a pretty good job of that, I don't think it would be very useful."

"No," Louise began, craning her neck in a groan. Siesta had seriously not thought of this beforehand? Louise had assumed Kirche would be treated much like she had during her first day in the Zone. Simply handed a gun and told to shoot anything ugly. "It wouldn't be useful at all."

The pinkette jumped as Siesta suddenly gave her a pat on the shoulder. She turned to meet a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it. We're not going in guns blazing or anything, it'll be fine. They won't even know we were there."

Louise bit her lip, deciding to bring up what had been said earlier. "Siesta, if I really did… m-make something happen in Tristain…"

Siesta frowned. "Let's talk about that later, okay? There are more important things to worry about now." Siesta increased her pace, moving to walk next to Alexander to begin discussing something with him.

Louise's gaze drifted from the back of Siesta's head, down to her own feet. What if her magic actually was responsible for what was apparently happening in Tristain? What if these worlds were somehow now connected because of her magic? Anybody else would think it was an outlandish thought, but with all the things that had happened recently she wasn't about to simply put that theory to rest. If Kirche were here now, then could the other people that had gone missing be somewhere in the Zone as well?

Even if her thoughts were remotely true, then how did Siesta find herself here before anybody else had? Perhaps the ex-maid had just been unlucky, but was anybody really _that_ unlucky?

Louise then realized that she herself, in fact, was actually that unlucky. So far it seemed as if she were the one who had started this whole thing. She sighed deeply, following it up with a groan of hopeless frustration. She'd spent her entire life messing things up, so much that she'd been completely used to it. However, now…

She had really made a mess of things this time.

"These Bloodsuckers…" Kirche began hesitantly, seeing that Louise was obviously even more unhappy than she had been previously. "They're… uh, dangerous I'm guessing?"

Louise nodded, her face creased into a deep frown. She looked to Kirche, motioning to the bandages on her face. "They're invisible when they're hunting you. Once they get close, you'll see them. That's how I got this."

"Invisible!?" Kirche repeated in disbelief. "And it's not magic at all?"

"Well as far as I know it's not. The most magical thing in the Zone is probably you."

Kirche was silent. A world without magic, huh? She couldn't have imagined such a thing in a thousand years. She couldn't help but feel that this was simply too much to just be thrown into.

"What are we going to do, Louise?"

Louise quirked an eyebrow. "Well we're going to go to the Bloodsucker lair and-"

"No, no," Kirche interrupted, shaking her head. "I mean in the long run. What are we going to do?"

Louise scoffed bitterly, shifting her Kalashnikov in her arms. "Are you honestly asking me for some kind of advice?"

Kirche knitted her brows together. "In case you haven't noticed, you've been here longer than I have."

While this was true, today was only Louise's sixth day in the Zone. She gave the Germanian a shrug.

"All we can do is survive, Kirche."

Ahead of the two mages, Siesta had been conversing with Alexander and Grouse about their game plan for the Bloodsucker lair.

"So what's your plan for this, Grouse?" Alexander asked, hefting the tank of nerve gas to emphasize. "I hope it's a little more elaborate than opening the valve and throwing it in through a window."

Grouse let out a single chuckle. "I don't know if you noticed last time, but there's a small building set slightly away from the main one. In there, is all the equipment that runs Antenna Complex's ventilation system. We're going to try and hook it up to that."

"How do you know this?" Siesta asked, a little surprised.

Grouse shrugged. "I did my homework."

Alexander laughed. "Yeah, of course you did, _Detective_."

* * *

The Antenna Complex was eerily quiet.

In front of them lay about one-hundred meters of open ground, with the Complex's chain link fence looming on the other side. The fence, topped with intimidating razor wire, would have been a pain to scale over. Thankfully, more sections of the fence lay flat on the ground than ones left standing.

Not far from the interior of the mostly-collapsed fence, a small square building sat innocently away from the main building. They had purposefully circled the compound so their point of entry would be as close as possible to this building. Inside it, the ventilation equipment was supposedly located.

Siesta had explained this much to Louise and Kirche. The pinkette didn't particularly understand how most of the contraptions in the world functioned, but right now it didn't matter. Anything that would help them kill the Bloodsuckers would be welcomed with open arms.

Alexander was crouched next to Grouse, the latter observing the area though a pair of binoculars. Siesta had taken up position slightly behind Alexander, looking over his shoulder through her own set of binoculars. Louise and Kirche stood back a few meters, the Germanian leaning her back against a tree with her arms crossed.

Louise felt a tiny weight fall onto her boot, which caused her to glance downward out of curiosity.

A small frog sat idle on the toe of her right boot.

With a tiny yelp, Louise's foot kicked straight out and sent the amphibian flying into the brush. Kirche observed the action with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that about?" Kirche asked in a hush voice.

"There was a frog."

Kirche smirked. "Are you frightened of frogs?"

"Yes," Louise replied, giving the Germanian a sour look. "They're disgusting."

"Seriously? Frogs?"

"Genuinely."

Suddenly, Louise got the feeling that Kirche thought it was a little idiotic for her to be frightened of frogs. Of course, the thought of frogs didn't actually elicit any fear in her, she just thought they were disgusting and slimy and she didn't want to touch them or be near them in any way, shape, or form.

It was normal for a girl to feel that way, wasn't it?

Grouse lowered his binoculars, casting Siesta a sideways glance. "Do you see anything, Siesta?"

Siesta lowered her own binoculars, shaking her head.

"Alright," Grouse began, putting the observation device away and racking a shell into the chamber of his shotgun. "Let's get in there and see what we can do."

Siesta nodded, motioning for Louise and Kirche to follow with a flick of her head. The group left the cover of the trees, moving across the open ground at a brisk pace. Kirche frowned as they moved, the ominous sight of the Antenna Complex only made her feel that something bad was about to happen here. If she were to continue to hide her magic, she was going to be just as useful as a desk chair in a fight. Her hand itched to brandish her wand. She still couldn't completely wrap her head around the fact that there were no mages here. She was in a place where magic wasn't supposed to exist.

She was even still having a hard time getting over the fact that Louise wasn't actually dead like she and many others had thought.

A downed section of chain-link fence rattled as they bounded over it, reaching the target building in no time at all. Grouse and Alexander entered first, while Siesta turned to her two female companions.

"You guys wait out here and make sure nothing sneaks up on us, alright?"

Louise nodded as Siesta promptly disappeared into the building. The ex-maid quickly found the two men standing at the far end of the building. It seemed they had located the ventilation equipment they were searching for. To Siesta, it was only a mess of pipes, valves and filters.

"Well," Alexander began hesitantly, gently placing the Perin B3 on the floor. "How are we going to do this?"

Grouse bit his lip. "I'm not sure. I don't think the guys who designed this place had our situation in mind."

Outside, Kirche was feeling far from comfortable.

"Seriously, what am I supposed to do if I can't use any magic?" Kirche asked, annoyance filling her voice. "It's like telling somebody, 'oh, you're not allowed to use your arms anymore,' it's bothersome!"

"Just keep quiet," Louise growled lowly, her AK shouldered and ready. "We don't want those things to know that we're-"

Louise was cut off as a distinctive chorus of howls drifted through the air from alarmingly close by.

Kirche stiffened. "Um… what was that?"

"B-Bloodsuckers!" Louise sputtered. Kirche turned to the pinkette to find her eyes wide with fear. "D-d-dozens of them!"

"Don't act so afraid!" Kirche shot back, worry creeping into her voice. "It's going to rub off onto me!"

"Too bad, I'm afraid!" Louise cried, rather loudly. "Y-y-you will be too once you lay eyes on these things!"

Siesta suddenly came stomping out of the building.

"I heard the word 'Bloodsuckers'. All of this noise better be for a good fucking reason!"

"Dozens of them!" Louise repeated, keeping her gaze sweeping over the area for any signs of movement.

Siesta nearly choked. "What!? Shit!"

"W-we haven't actually seen any yet," Kirche added. "But Louise seems fairly certain we've heard one or more of them at least."

"Oh I'm bloody certain alright!" Louise proclaimed, gripping her Kalashnikov tightly.

"Fuck," Siesta swore, contorting her face in frustration. "I gotta warn the guys, hold on."

Louise cast one last wary look around as Siesta disappeared into the building. She let her AK hang from her arm on its sling while she drew her Makarov. She chambered a round and held the pistol out for Kirche to accept. "Here, take it. This gun can only fire eight times before it needs to be reloaded, so don't waste any shots."

"What?" Kirche gawked, eyeing the firearm as if it could bite her. "I don't even know how to use a regular gun, let alone something ridiculous like this!"

"Just pull the trigger," Louise advised, pushing the weapon into the Germanian's hands. "If I can do it, I-I'm sure you can."

Kirche bit her lip, beginning to sweat despite the chilly temperature. She wasn't feeling particularly confident about this. The fact that she couldn't use her magic was mostly to blame. "Th-that's not true! I'm not courageous like you and-"

"Courageous?" Louise scoffed nervously. "Have you finally lost it, Zerbst? I am most definitely not c-c-courageous! You're the one who volunteered to distract the Pseudogiant, in case you've forgotten!"

"Yes but I was under the impression that it was going to be seriously injured when I set it on fire!"

"Listen, just-"

Louise didn't have time to finish, because a familiar throaty hiss came from somewhere to her front. The Bloodsucker revealed itself quickly, brazenly charging forward as it brought itself into the visible spectrum. With a yelp of surprise and fear, Louise unleashed a full-automatic burst into the creature's torso. The bullets tore into its flesh with ease, causing it to tumble forward and slide face-first on the grass.

"Oh god!" Kirche remarked, sizing up what Louise had just killed. "That's just hideous!"

Louise didn't respond, instead she chose to listen closely. She could hear the Bloodsuckers all around them, breathing, hissing and shuffling about. They were surrounded.

Not more than a second later, both Siesta and Alexander came barreling out of the building with weapons ready. Siesta immediately opened fire, the muzzle of her AKM flaring as she let out a burst towards where she suspected a Bloodsucker to be.

"They're on the left!" Siesta warned in Ukrainian, following a Bloodsucker's shadow and opening fire. A Bloodsucker promptly dropped to the ground, its neck and face torn to shreds.

"On the right too!" Alexander responded, letting out short and efficient bursts of fire. Another Bloodsucker fell, but he knew there were more ready to attack.

"Louise!" Siesta shouted. "To the front!"

Louise couldn't particularly see anything, but she decided to accept the warning nonetheless. She opened fire blindly, spraying bullets in a forty-five degree cone. From beyond the smoking muzzle of her Kalashnikov she watched as a Bloodsucker quickly became visible and fell to the ground squirming. She promptly finished it off with the last few rounds in her magazine.

Desperately wanting to cover her ears, Kirche watched as Bloodsuckers weaved in and out of existence, some dropping to the ground as bullets tore into their bodies, while others disappeared again to probe at a new angle of attack. The amount of corpses on the ground steadily increased.

"Uwaah!"

Standing slightly behind Louise, Kirche watched as a Bloodsucker materialized in front of them. Normally, it would have been quickly dispatched by Louise, but she happened to be in the middle of reloading and had subsequently realized this with a cry of fear as the blood thirsty creature made for her.

In a panic, Kirche raised the pistol she had been given and rapidly mashed down on the trigger. The feeling of a gun going off in her hand was certainly new to her and the recoil of the nine-millimeter rounds was surprising, yet easily manageable. At such a close range, all eight rounds found their way into the Bloodsucker's chest. It stumbled forward, landing in a heap at Louise's feet.

Louise let out a howl of pain as one of her hands immediately went to cover her ear. "MY EAR! MY BLOODY EAR, KIRCHE!"

It was only then when Kirche realized she had fired the gun rather close to Louise's right ear. Oops. "A-ah! I'm sorry I didn't realize!"

Temporarily deaf in one ear, Louise finished reloading her Kalashnikov and rejoined Siesta and Alexander in firing in full-automatic as a Bloodsucker weaved dangerously close.

Kirche observed the state of the little gun in her hand. The slide had locked reward, exposing the guns innards through the ejection port. She quite literally had no idea what to do with it now. Did it just need to be reloaded? Or had it been broken?

She wanted to get Louise's attention, but she felt that the sheer volume of the gunfire around them would make it near impossible, and besides, she did seem rather busy as more of her bullets tore into a falling Bloodsucker.

Watching Louise now, she seemed nothing like the famed 'Louise the Zero' she had been before. She, along with Siesta and Alexander were giving the Bloodsuckers a run for their money. The air filled with supersonic lead, the nightmarish mutants fell left and right.

"I'm running low on ammo!" Alexander barked, locking a new magazine into his own Kalashnikov.

"We all are!" Siesta returned, letting off a long burst as a Bloodsucker managed to get within near point blank range. "What the _fuck_ is Grouse doing in there!?" Siesta felt that at this rate they'd have all of the Bloodsuckers shot before any would be killed by the nerve gas.

"Shit!" Alexander swore as a Bloodsucker materialized dangerously close while he was focused on another. He was tackled to the ground, firing point blank into the mutant's abdomen as he fell.

"No!" Louise cried, seeing what had happened out of the corner of her eye.

Alexander quickly rolled the creature off, continuing his barrage of automatic fire while sitting on his bottom. Aside from some tears on the vest of his sunrise suit, he seemed mostly unharmed.

"Alexander!" Siesta called, not looking towards the man for fear of a Bloodsucker getting the jump on her.

"I'm good!" He called back, reloading while still sitting on the ground.

Just when Kirche was feeling that this was far too much to handle, a horrifying shriek came from behind her. She whirled around, just in time to see a Bloodsucker materialize in mid-air after jumping down from the roof of the building. She dropped the pistol, her hand going straight for her wand.

Forget hiding her magic. If she didn't use it she was going to die!

She reached for where she normally kept her wand, right in her cleavage. However, she had momentarily forgotten that she had buttoned her shirt all the way after leaving the Skadovsk. Her wand was trapped behind the fabric of her shirt, and there was no time to undo the buttons.

She hit the ground, the tentacles around the Bloodsucker's mouth spreading wide as it pinned her arms with both of its bony hands. Staring into its lambent eyes was staring straight into the face of death itself.

All she could do was scream and kick uselessly.

Louise seemed to have been the only one to see what had happened, as Alexander and Siesta were both preoccupied with their own battles. She could have easily shot the mutant in the head point blank, but she had just run her current magazine dry, Kirche had her pistol, and there was no time to reload.

Whipping her head around wildly for a solution, she found one sheathed on Siesta's back, just above her bottom. Dropping her AK, Louise ripped Siesta's knife from its sheath, which undoubtedly got the ex-maid's attention.

"Louise! What the-" Siesta could only gape in horror at what she saw. She had barely heard Kirche's screams over her own automatic weapon, but she had just assumed that the redhead was scared out of her mind.

Screaming like a banshee, Louise leapt onto the Bloodsucker's tawny back and sunk the blade into its flesh. Pulling the knife out, she sunk it into the mutant's back again, and again, and again.

The Bloodsucker quickly had enough and turned its attention away from the Germanian trapped underneath it. Bucking and swinging an elbow, Louise was sent tumbling to the ground with her ribs flaring in pain. The mutant nightmare brandished its razor-like claws, intending to eviscerate Louise into a dozen pieces.

It didn't get very far.

With a loud crack, the top half of the creature's head literally exploded apart, showering Louise with blood and brain matter.

Wide-eyed, Louise watched as the mutant fell to reveal Grouse standing near the door pumping the action of his shotgun. She also noticed over the sound of her heavy breathing, that the gunfire had come to a stop. Alexander, still on guard, cast his gaze about warily.

"I think that might be all-"

"Louise!" Siesta shrieked, cutting the Ukrainian man off. She roughly hauled the pinkette to her feet by her coat, an unbelievably dark scowl crossing her face. "You are literally _fucking_ insane! What the hell was that!?"

"Sh-shut up!" Louise wheezed, still trying to regain her breath after the knock the Bloodsucker had given her. She wiped at herself desperately. "Oh God it's in my hair! Its brains are in my bloody hair!"

"Oh who cares!? That was seriously badass, but it was so stupid! You could have died!"

Alexander scoffed at the two girls, extending a hand to help Kirche to her feet. He nearly asked her if she was injured, but only remembered she wouldn't understand him at the last second. She looked to be unharmed anyway, only a little dirty from hitting the ground. Kirche nodded her thanks as she got to her feet.

"Well what was I supposed to do!?" Louise barked, her glare equalling Siesta's. "Just let the bloody thing have its way with Kirche?"

"No, obviously not!" Siesta said, rolling her eyes. "But you could have shot it with, like, oh I don't know, your _fucking gun_!?"

"I was out of bullets! Kirche had my pistol! There was no time to reload!"

"Quit it, you two!" Grouse bellowed, glaring as well. "I got the gas hooked up as well as I can. Grab your shit and let's get the hell out of here!"

Silently, Louise handed Siesta her knife and picked up her dropped Kalashnikov and its emptied magazines from the ground. As she stood, she noticed Kirche in front of her holding out the empty Makarov for her to take. She stared for a moment, accepting the pistol.

"You're alright?" Louise asked quietly as she returned the pistol to its holster.

Kirche sighed, obviously a little rattled. "Well I'm alive, that's for sure. Thanks… for that."

"W-well you shot that one while I was reloading. S-s-so it was only fair for me to repay you!"

"Siesta is right though, that was properly crazy what you did."

Louise heaved a sigh, sending pangs of pain through her chest. "Oh shut it, Zerbst."

…

_"Grouse, it's Tremor. Do you Copy?"_

Grouse cast a weird look about the group before shrugging and depressing the talk button on his radio.

"Yeah I got you. What's up?"

_"Listen, I found something you need to see involving the Bloodsuckers. Meet me in the cabin at the Dock Cranes."_

He and Alexander both shared a glance before Grouse responded.

"Alright, I'll see you soon." Grouse sighed, seeing that the Skadovsk had only been about one-hundred feet away. "It's just one thing after another today."

Siesta let out a small giggle, while Louise and Kirche remained ignorant to what was being said.

Grouse turned to face everybody. "Well, you guys head into the Skadovsk for some rest or something. It's been a long day and you all deserve it. I'll check this out on my own."

Alexander only shrugged, having no problem with that, while Siesta looked a little uneasy.

"Are you sure? I can go."

"Up to you," Grouse replied, not particularly caring either way.

Siesta nodded, turning to Kirche and Louise. "Louise, take Kirche back to the Skadovsk, I'll be back soon." Seeing Louise opening her mouth to protest, Siesta quickly continued. "Go to Owl, get some ammo for this." Siesta held the AKM out for Louise to take, which she did, quickly passing it off to a reluctant Kirche. "And get Kirche some damn pants and a coat, alright?"

Kirche groaned. "_Pants_? Honestly? No, it isn't going to happen."

"It is, actually," Louise said in an annoyed voice, splitting off with Kirche and Alexander. "The Academy uniforms are nice, I'll admit, but…"

Siesta smirked, watching as the pinkette and the redhead continued to argue back and forth about clothing arrangements while Alexander could only guess at what the two girls were talking about. She turned back to Grouse.

"Let's go."

Grouse nodded, turning on his heel with Siesta in tow. The Dock Cranes were not very far from the Skadovsk, less ten minutes of stomping through the marshes away. It was easily visible from the rusted ship, as it had once been the area where all cargo ships in the area would have docked. Two massive cranes loomed over the area, simply left to rust and decay after the area had been completely abandoned over two decades before.

As they trudged through the muck, Grouse glanced at the ex-maid out of the corner of his eye.

"How long have you been in the Zone, Siesta?"

Siesta gave the man a questioning look as she registered the sudden question. "Why do you ask?"

Grouse shrugged. "I was talking to Petruha the other day, and he said you've been around so long you might as well be part of the furniture. I was just curious."

Siesta laughed in response, deciding to satisfy the man's curiosity for the time being. "Years, Grouse."

Scoffing, Grouse shook his head. "Jeez. After such a long time you'd probably forget what the outside world is even like, huh?"

Siesta stared straight ahead. Did he mean something by that? She quickly mentally berated herself with a quiet snort. Obviously Grouse might have suspected something weird was going on since Louise and then Kirche had just shown up out of the blue, but there was no way he could know the truth. Siesta decided on a simple answer.

"Yeah."

The rest of the walk to the Dock Cranes was done in silence. At the far end of the docks was a collection of rusted cargo shipping containers, which had once been the location of a small stalker camp, but due to the Skadovsk's proximity it had simply been abandoned. Aside from the massive cranes, the only notable structure in the area was the small wooden building that had likely been a shipping office of sorts at one time.

They both swiftly approached the building, intent on finding out what Tremor had found and getting back to the Skadovsk as quickly as possible. However, upon approaching the only entrance, they stopped in their tracks.

Just outside the door, a body was laying on the ground.

"What in the…" Grouse approached the body and bent down to get a closer look. He reeled back with a yelp, quickly recognizing the stalker.

Siesta recognized the deceased as well. He had been the one they had been searching for when they stumbled into the Antenna Complex that morning. "Danila…"

The female stalker crouched next to the body, shaking her head in disbelief. So they'd been a bit of a ways off in regards to location when they'd gone searching for him. It did seem as if the Bloodsuckers had gotten to him though. It was as plain as day that he'd been drained of his blood.

Saying nothing, Grouse threw open the cabin's door and stormed inside.

"Hey! Tremor! What the hell is-"

Although it was obvious that Danila had been drained of his blood, the usual markings of a Bloodsucker victim were oddly absent. Siesta scrunched her nose. Grouse had said something while they had been in the bowels of the Antenna Complex about the markings being different, didn't he?

"Woah, hey! Tremor? T-Tremor what are you doing?"

Siesta's eyes widened slightly. While the door was now left ajar, she was definitely out of sight. What was happening inside?

"Tremor, seriously man! Put the gun down!"

_Wait a second, what?_

Opting to draw her pistol instead of slinging the Mosin off of her back, she slid the pistol free of its holster quietly. Whatever was going on inside the cabin didn't sound particularly friendly.

"I'm sorry, Grouse," came Tremor's nasally reply. He sounded rather calm, Siesta thought. "I really am."

Deciding to spring into action before it was too late, Siesta stormed into the room. It was a simple scene, Tremor had Grouse at point-blank range with a pistol in his face, while Grouse had his hands raised slightly as if he were going to try and talk the man down.

"Drop it, fucker!" Siesta growled, leveling her own pistol as the Skadovsk's doctor.

A look of surprise flashed across Tremor's face as his pistol quickly left Grouse's face and swung in Siesta's direction.

Fearing he may be caught in a potential crossfire, Grouse dived to the side and hit the floor just as the two pistols began barking at each other. He immediately saw Tremor fall to the floor in a motionless heap, and breathed a sigh of relief.

He immediately sucked the sigh back in when the sound of a second body hitting the floor reached his ears. He shot up to a sitting position, his head snapping in Siesta's direction.

"Oh shit!"

…

Louise was the first to fly in through the cabin's door, worry etched onto her face. "Siesta! Siesta, are you okay!?"

Her concern was immediately met with a pained groan and a rather agitated reply.

"No I am not _fucking_ okay! I've been shot!"

Sitting on the floor, Siesta clutched at her bleeding thigh with a grimace on her face and tears of pain streaking down her cheeks. Grouse immediately rose from his crouched position next to Siesta just as Kirche and Alexander found their way in through the door.

Louise immediately noticed Tremor lying on the floor, his torso dotted with multiple gunshot wounds. She winced at the sight of the body, wondering what exactly happened.

"Here," Alexander held up a satchel by its strap as he strode towards Siesta. "I've brought everything we need, I think. Is the bullet still in her, or did it go through?"

"It's still in there," Grouse replied. Alexander nodded and knelt down next to Siesta.

Siesta eyed Alexander with a pained expression. If the bullet were still in her, wouldn't it have to come out? She'd been shot before, but thus far she had avoided having any slugs left lodged in her body. "D-does it have to come out?"

Alexander eyed her for a moment, trying to make sense of her accented Ukrainian before smiling reassuringly and shaking his head. "Nah. It's better to leave it in."

What? Leave it in? Now that he'd said that, Siesta kind of wanted the thing out of her. She let it go, Alexander seemed to know what he was doing.

"S-Siesta?" Louise said tenderly, trying to get close to Tremor's body without actually getting close to it. "That… um, that's Tremor, isn't it?"

Siesta nodded as Alexander tore the leg of her pants open to expose her wound. Louise immediately looked away, while Kirche observed with a sympathetic wince.

"B-b-but he was the only doctor! Who is going to fix you now?"

Eyeing Louise, Siesta scoffed. "I walked into this room and he – _SHIT!_" The ex-maid cried out in pain as Alexander got to working at her wound. He gave her an apologetic look, but said nothing. "H-he had a gun in Grouse's face. Then he points his gun at me, so I shot."

"You shot first?" Kirche asked, he gaze going between Tremor's body and Siesta.

"If I hadn't-" Siesta's breath hitched as Alexander applied bandages tight to her thigh. She continued. "If I hadn't, he probably would have shot me right in the face."

Before either of the girls could respond, Alexander spoke up.

"Alright, that's good enough for now," he said, letting the satchel hang from his shoulder. "Let's get her back to the boat. Grouse, give me a hand?"

Grouse nodded, assisting Alexander as they lifted Siesta to her feet. Even with both the men supporting her weight, Siesta's leg throbbed in agony. She had a feeling that the relatively short walk back to the Skadovsk was going to be really long.

"I'll carry her things," Louise volunteered, even though the two men didn't have a clue what she was saying. It was easy enough to understand when the pinkette took Siesta's backpack from the floor and made it her own. She slung Siesta's Mosin onto her back as well, which began to protest all of the extra weight. How did Siesta even walk around with all of this?

"Hey, Louise."

Louise turned to Siesta, who was giving her a weak smile.

"What a day this has been, huh?"

* * *

_A/N: And long overdue chapter is long overdue. Sorry about that. Some divergence from STALKER canon, since Grouse has now survived his encounter with Tremor instead of being killed. I know some of you know exactly why Tremor was going to shoot him, while some other might not have a clue. It'll come up in the next chapter anyway._

_Speaking of the next chapter, it's going to be the last chapter in Humble Beginnings. Expect to see Monty-chan and some of our Halkeginian friends. _

_I'll keep this note short. Hope you're all having a nice day!_


End file.
